Altered
by i-hime
Summary: He knew something was wrong the moment the ANBU mask slid off to reveal the expressionless green eyes of Haruno Sakura. He heard himself say her name and watched as her eyes narrowed. "How do you know my name?" she asked, her voice tinged with slight panic. His eyes widened slightly. Did Haruno Sakura really forget Uchiha Sasuke?
1. Chapter 1

I was in my grandmother's house when I thought this up. I had nothing but my phone. Literally spent the next thirty minutes typing up a summary and sequence in 'Notes' hahaha!

**ANNOUNCEMENT: I've lost my spark for "ENGAGED?!" so I'll be posting stories even if that isn't done. I WILL FINISH IT but I need to get some of my ideas for other stories out of my system by posting them. **

Read and Review guys =)

DISCLAIMER: How many times do I have to say this? I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: Fate Must Hate Uchiha Sasuke

* * *

It's been over a year since the fourth ninja war was waged. Konoha had managed a victory and now the ninja world was in some state of peace; save for some small attacks every now and then that were led by a few of the survivors who were all too faithful to the fallen Uchiha Madara. That was a peaceful as the ninja world could get.

Dark eyes stared at the familiar gates, the wind blowing at his spiky hair. Uchiha Sasuke gazed thoughtfully at the tall wooden gates that were flanked by a squad of young looking Jounin, newbies he presumed from the way they held themselves. He fought back the smirk that was forming on his face. The last time he was here, he had fully intended to destroy the village. He'd almost been successful too, if the answers of the Third Hokage had been any different, he would've gladly and swiftly blown the village into smithereens; thankfully, for the village's sake, the answers he got had cleared his head of that dark cloud of confusion and hate. Sasuke was brought back to the present by one of the Jounin's laughter. This time his reasons for being here were different; _very_ different.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree he was perched on and began walking to that gate that was now only a few meters away.

Uchiha Sasuke was coming home.

He was older now, though the Uchiha still looked pretty much like himself when he was sixteen. Save for a couple of inches added to his height and the muscles that had developed even more from his constant training and battles. His face, although losing its child-like qualities still looked as beautiful; Sasuke was a battle scarred nineteen year old with a face that looked completely and utterly angelic. Such a contradiction to what he was. He sighed when thoughts of his fan girls entered his mind. No doubt they'd be happy about his much awaited return to the village.

He stopped abruptly when he heard a faint '_Woosh.' _Dark eyes narrowed, it seemed that some people weren't so happy about his presence. His senses picked up the sounds of metal hurling though the air. Sasuke drew his sword to block a flurry of shuriken and kunai that came at him from all directions. An ambush? He scoffed, it wasn't possible. He was the last Uchiha. Nobody was stupid enough to ambush him. Plus, he'd hidden his chakra. He was virtually undetectable unless _seen_ directly.

Sasuke lazily searched for the chakra of his assailant. He wanted this to end quickly. _"Behind."_ Sasuke blocked a kick from behind by sidestepping to the right. He grabbed the attacker by the calf and jerked the pest forward making whoever attacked him lose their balance. These were simple tricks but Sasuke wanted to avoid using too much chakra. It may be hidden but jutsus always ooze out chakra, no matter how well a ninja concealed their chakra in his or her body, it will prove useless when you start using jutsus. And Sasuke did not want to risk the village finding out that he was here—he didn't want that; not yet.

"Ugh." He heard the mystery attacker say, it was a girl, he guessed. The voice was too female to be anything but. Sasuke's eyes widened when he felt the female use the force from his pull to catapult herself above him, freeing herself from his grasp in the process. His ears picked up the sound of swords being unsheathed, the sound of metal against the sheath a signal that she was done playing. _ANBU?_ Sasuke thought when he eyed the female clad in the standard ANBU uniform; a mask hiding her features. The only thing displayed was her dark brown hair.

The sole Uchiha watched her land soundlessly, a katana in each hand. As soon as one foot met the ground, she bounded towards him; poised for an attack. Sasuke decided that it was time to stop playing as well; the Sharingan glowed red as he raised his sword. He was not aiming to block the attacks anymore. He was aiming to slash her first.

Sasuke ran to her letting a little chakra coat the sword, his electric chakra sparked and cackled from his Kusanagi as he picked up speed. Both ninjas eyed each other in determination before dashing faster and swinging their swords when they both were close enough.

_SLASH_

The momentum propelled them further even after they'd slashed at each other. Sasuke was now where the ANBU previously was and the ANBU now stood where Sasuke had been standing a few seconds ago. The two sword wielders were breathing a little heavily as they lowered their swords. Both were silently waiting for the other to drop to their knees.

Sasuke looked down and was surprised to see a clean slash through his black shirt. He raised an eyebrow. This girl wasn't half as bad as he thought. Many a powerful ninja have tried to kill him and not one has managed to slip through his defenses. Let alone manage to rip through his shirt. Sasuke whirled around when his ears picked up a faint _THUMP_; something hit the ground.

* * *

The ANBU's mask broke apart into two pieces and fell into the ground, revealing the enraged face of someone he knew. Sasuke heard her mutter a few curses when she saw her mask drop to the ground with a dull thud. Something didn't add up. The face he was seeing couldn't be _hers_, it wasn't possible. This ANBU couldn't be…

"Sakura." He heard himself say when he saw her previously dark brown hair begin slowly to lighten; it went through several light shades of brown and blonde before returning to its natural color; _pink. _Sasuke was impressed, focusing chakra to a certain part of one's body and keeping it there took control; lots of it. He stared her emerald green eyes that darkened in rage, and what looked like confusion, when he had absentmindedly uttered her name.

The two estranged team mates were silent for a few moments before Sakura opened her mouth to speak. Her tone was quipped, "How do you know my name?" she asked as if it was a shock that he knew her name. Sasuke went a little rigid; his shoulders tensed and his jaw hardened. Was this some sick psychological way to make him feel guilty? He glared at Sakura. What was that comment supposed to mean? And why the _fuck_ was he getting a strange heavy feeling in his stomach?

Sakura, bothered by his lack of explanation, threw a kunai at him that he'd blocked as if he were swatting an annoying insect. The exposed ANBU allowed herself to feel a little awed. at the sheer power he exuded. So _this _was Uchiha Sasuke. She looked him in the eyes without flinching at their intensity and asked again. "I _said_, how do you know my name?" she held his gaze steadily, waiting for his answer.

Her question rang in his ears while Sasuke searched her face for any holes in her façade; any form of recognition that peeked through so he could prove to himself that Sakura wasn't bluffing. That she was toying with him and was aiming to flood him with guilt. Anything that proved that Haruno Sakura had not forgotten Uchiha Sasuke.

"You don't know who I am?" he asked, his voice chillingly calm despite the flurry of confusion and irritation inside of him. Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Of course I know who _you _are." She sounded insulted, as if knowing him was a must.

_That's it._ A smirk made its way to his lips. Sasuke was pleased, he found it; He found the hole in her act. Sakura was bluffing—playing with him. The fact that she felt insulted when he implied that she didn't know him was proof enough.

A thought came into his head and the feeling of triumph he had felt, only mere seconds ago, disappeared. He frowned. Why did she give it away so easily? There was no way she'd be ANBU if she let enemies see right through her act. They were trained to counter their enemies' every attempt to see through their bluff. Was this carelessness at her part? Sasuke glanced at Sakura's broken mask. No, something was still wrong. He looked back up at her and realized that she wasn't done speaking.

"You were in _every_ bingo book. How could I not know you? Your criminal record is endless." Sakura's glare intensified. "But, how do _you _know who _I am_?" He could hear the genuine confusion and slight panic in her voice. She didn't know who he was—Haruno Sakura genuinely did not recognize Uchiha Sasuke.

And he couldn't understand why.

* * *

When her mask slid off Sakura knew things had taken the turn for the worst. Her eyes found his black ones and she noticed the flash of recognition in his face. She presumed it to be shock until... she let go of her jutsu, then it became clear that this rogue ninja somehow knew her .Never being one to fret easily, she'd chalked it up to him having seen her during the war but when he'd said her name directly and in that _tone_, she panicked. She was a famous medic so her name got out but the way he said it. It was as if he _knew _her.

She watched as he battled an internal conflict, maybe he'd made a mistake? Sakura's eyes narrowed. She'd just come back from her mission wherin she was to see if any small revolutions were being planned. After all it's only been a few years since the war and enemy survivors were still pretty sore from their defeat. She'd been on her way back when she spotted the Uchiha making his way to the village. Her mentor's words popped into her head. _"Attack if necessary, we don't need another skirmish—no matter how small." _Sakura was sure that Uchiha Sasuke was capable of more than just a small commotion; so she attacked.

Thoughts slid through her mind as she walked slightly faster than the Uchiha.

They were currently outside the Hokage's office, Sakura, refusing assistance, had dragged the Uchiha, literally by the back of his shirt, by herself to the Hokage Tower hoping to clear the matter up as quickly as possible. Because she needed answers and she needed them now.

She knocked three times before getting impatient and bursting in her brown hair (she'd gotten her focus back and had turned it brown again to keep her identity as hidden as possible) flying as she burst inside. Tsunade met her with a stern gaze. "You couldn't wait three seconds for me to say 'Come in'?" her mentor asked sarcastically. She was beginning to think that her student was hanging around Naruto too much.

Usually, Sakura would've gotten flustered and annoyed-somtimes both, but today she had a look of utter seriousness. Tsunade took note of this before sliding her amber gaze to the person Sakura was holding by his shirt. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Uchiha Sasuke." Came her deep voice.

"Hn. Hokage-sama." He answered calmly, as if him being the in the village was of the norm. The Hokage motioned for the two to sit. "Explain." She demanded, that one word holding a lot more gravity than it should, indicating that she wanted to know _everything._

Sakura spoke first. "I was returning from a mission when I found _him_." Sasuke stiffened at the tone she used to indicate him; it seemed too harsh to have come from her, what was her problem? Wasn't she the one who attacked him first? He fixed her with a small glare that she blatantly ignored. His eyes narrowed further. Haruno Sakura just _ignored_ him. What the _fuck _happened to her?

Despite the cold glare she knew she was getting from the missing nin, Sakura continued with the mission report. "Your orders were to attack if necessary to avoid another one of those small commotions and so I engaged." Sasuke noticed how de-attached she sounded. He'd tuned the rest of her report out; he didn't need a recap of what just happened a few minutes ago. Even _he_ was still confused over what happened.

"Shishou…he knows me." Sakura looked at her mentor; her eyes holding confusion.

Tsunade's head began to hurt. She studied her student's confused face and Sasuke's, equally as confused one. The situation was much too complicated; she didn't know where to start. She had a confused ANBU, a returning missing nin, and they both wanted answers. Tsunade sighed. She'd have to deal with them separately.

"Sakura, I want a mission report submitted tomorrow morning at ten o' clock." She glanced at Sasuke. "Leave the last part out. You are not to divulge any information about what happened to _anyone_ until I give the _say so._ You're dismissed." "But Shishou!—Tsunade stifled her compliant with a steely look. "You're _dismissed._"

Sakura clenched her jaw. "Hai." She muttered before doing a series of complicated hand seals and disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving the Hokage alone with the last remaining Uchiha. Sasuke's eyes motioned her to start talking. "Why doesn't she remember me?"

Tsunade held up her hand. "I ask the questions, Uchiha. When I'm satisfied then I _might_ answer yours." She rumbled, weaving her fingers together in a thoughtful position her eyes however we ablaze with annoyance. Sasuke leaned back. "Hn." He grunted in agreement.

* * *

"Why are you here?" she asked him directly. "If you're planning another siege—Sasuke had to scoff at that. If he'd come for another attack, he'd have attacked her the moment the door opened. "No, I'm not planning another attack." The war was over, at least, to him. He was done. Tsunade glared at him for his interruption but couldn't help but feel a wave of relief when she found out that he wasn't planning another fucking attack. Sasuke hesitated. "I came here to…stay."

Her mouth went a little slack. Uchiha Sasuke, the missing nin who despised Konohagakure so much as to wage war against it, was telling her that he'd come back to _live_ here? That was one huge pill to swallow. "You attacked this village" she held up a hand to stop his incoming interruption. "_You helped Madara_ attack this village. What makes you think I'd allow you to stay?"

"Who do you think killed Madara?" he quipped.

"Uzumaki Naruto" Tsunade answered, a little pride in her tone when she mentioned the blonde ninja. Blockhead he may be, but he has grown to be a ninja of high calibre (though he had yet to become a jounin) and she was a _little _proud of him.

"He had help." Sasuke answered; deadpan. Tsunade began to massage her temples. This boy wasn't answering her questions the way she wanted him to. All he gave her were single liners that gave her more questions than answers. With a sigh of utter frustration, she chose a different strategy. "Uchiha, I'm going to need more than that if you want me to let you _live_." It was time to bring out the execution card.

Sasuke raised an elegant eyebrow. He was the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan. He was the s_trongest._ Did she really think pulling the death threat trick was going to scare him? Sasuke inwardly scoffed but applauded her efforts and decided to make her life a little easier; he'd cooperate. Sitting up a little straighter and looking at her straight in the eyes. "I joined Madara not just for the attack but for information." He started.

"But he was holding something back, and I wanted—I _deserved_ more than that." He looked at Tsunade with such intensity that the Hokage had to break the stare. "The third hokage gave me the missing pieces." At this, Tsunade's eyes widened. So the boy finally got his information right.

"I found out about the curse of the Uchiha clan, the rivalry between the Uchiha and Senju, about Itachi…everything." He said quietly before heaving a sigh and relaxing. "I had Orochimaru reincarnate the third hokage…" Sasuke took a breath. "And he told me everything."

* * *

Sakura arrived back home in a flash, she was standing outside the veranda, her apartment door in front of her. She sorted through her keys before shoving the piece of metal hardware inside the lock and twisting it.

Her steely dismissal was still fresh in her mind. "Must be PMS." She muttered ungracefully before opening the door to her quaint little apartment that was on the second floor of the four storey building

. Her space wasn't as glamorous as Ino's but Sakura didn't like the idea of having to clean such a huge apartment so she opted for a smaller one. The apartment had hardwood floors, cream-colored walls. She had a kitchen in the left hand side; counters forming the shape of a square barricading the tiled part of the room completely save for a little space for her to walk in. It looked like a square with a gap at a corner. Between the kitchen and the living room, aside from a small dining table, was a narrow hallway that led to her bedroom on the right, one guestroom adjacent to her room and a bathroom at the end of the hallway.

_Couch. _The rosette thought as she eyed the two forest green love seats that were positioned in an 'L' formation at the right side of her apartment. Sakura set her things down by the couch when she reached it and sat plopped down, relishing as she felt the foam deflate slightly at the sudden application of weight. "Ah, comffyy." She purred, hugging a throw pillow. As she relaxed, events that happened earlier replayed in her mind. Green eyes shot open and landed on the small side table next to her couch.

Her apartment was pretty bare except for a little plate to hold her keys on the coffee table in front of her and a few pictures in frames on the side tables found on each side of her love seats. She eyed on particular photo; Her team photo.

* * *

They've been talking for an hour now and Tsunade truly believe that Uchiha Sasuke has finally resolved whatever the hell he was fighting inside of him and is now trying to right his mistakes. After his explanation, she'd relaxed a little.

Tsunade nodded in understanding. In truth, Uchiha Sasuke was just one of those unlucky people who were led to a dark path due to ignorance. He was a victim of fate, though he never really took on the role of victim, Sasuke never liked being the victim. He detested being seen as one. The Hokage gave him a reproachful look.

His ancestors screw ups had affected him greatly and now he was paying the price of both his and his ancestors' wrong doings. She felt a wave of sympathy for this lost boy wash over she'd pushed it down a little. He had a terrible past. But still, he had a choice, to live in darkness or to strive for the light, just as Naruto had.

Sasuke had chosen the dark path, despite the support of his friends, and committed his own share of morally wrong actions that inherited some form of punishment from her. The village elders were dead, and though they were annoying old bats, they were part of Konoha's political power tree.

"Probation until my say so, weekly check-ups with a psychiatrist and your chakra will be partially sealed. You will be put back to genin, since that had been your rank before you left. The Chuunin exams will be held next year, you'll be allowed to participate. If I see you fit." Tsunade stated rapidly, giving Sasuke a look that challenged him to disagree.

To her surprise the Uchiha grunted in agreement. He must've gotten the idea that he was let off easy; His only compliant being the unspecified timespan of his probation. Tsunade smirked. She knew that leaving him in the dark about how long his probation would tick him off; that was why she decided upon it in the first place.

Sasuke played with the rip on his shirt, courtesy of Sakura, before looking back up at Hokage. Tsunade grimaced, the look in his eyes had one message: 'I kept my part, now you keep _yours._' With a sigh she glanced at the door, making sure that no one was to intrude.

"After the war, many of Konoha's shinobi had gotten traumatized." Sasuke furrowed his eyes. "I didn't know Madara and I were able to trap that many in genjustu." The slug sanin shook her head. "It wasn't just that. The sheer intensity of the war had driven many to an emotionally unstable state." The Uchiha's eyes widened slightly. Had the war really been that bloody and chaotic that it had driven many hardened shinobi to instability?

Tsunade continued. "It came to a point wherein I had to make the decision to suppress and alter some of their memories to bring them back to sanity. It was a hard decision to make, messing with their memories. But it had to be done…" Tsunade seemed to be gritting her teeth. "For months, I worked on the affected Shinobi." Her amber orbs met Sasuke's black eyes. She knew he was smart enough to figure it out. "I've altered and supressed some parts of the war. It was different for everyone. Sakura was the hardest."

Everything seemed to stand still in Sasuke's eyes. The room was so still that he thought he had his Sharingan activated. "I had to alter her memories." He heard her say, her voice seemed pained. Well, h_e_ was pained too. He understood why she had to do it, but WHY did she have to go so far as to erase _him_ entirely? Anger, betrayal and denial coursed through out his being and threatened to consume him. He rose quickly and went straight for the door. "I will be taking up residence in an apartment until the Uchiha Compound is repaired." He said without emotion before he left, slamming the door as he exited Tsuande's office. "Shizune, get me Hatake Kakashi….And Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Sasuke never thought of himself being a victim, he _never _did. Victim mentality was stupid and useless; he wouldn't amount to anything if he thought like that. But in a general aspect, he was indeed a victim of fate. And it seemed that fate must hate Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW**

**THANK YOU FOR READING**

**PS: review and let me know what you think. You guys just might get chapter two a lot sooner ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

You guys know how to make me happy =) I got 14 notifications during the first hour then 39 more within seven hours; didn't think that it'd get that much attention during its debut. **I LOVE YOU GUYS.**

**Nom de Plume: I was going to reply but I didn't know which of the 'Nom de Plume's you were so…..yeah. Here is a short version of my reply: We're basically on the same page on the things you pointed out. Though, I still think Sasuke regarded Sakura as a friend at some point. The 'gate' scene when he says: 'thank you' ultimately proves that. But hey, that's my opinion. Anyway, thank you for your insight. I appreciate it. **

Read and Review, guys! =)

Chapter 2: Wiped Clean

* * *

"Teme is back?!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping out of the seat he was currently on, looking like he'd dart out of the room at any given second. Tsunade began doubting that her idea of involving the blonde was a good one. Judging by the look on his face, she certain that he was already stressed; she hadn't even given the details yet. The busty woman eyed her sake drawer… just a little more, _then _she'd have more than enough reasons to drink.

She'd called in the copy-nin and Kyuubi host to her office, merely minutes after her meeting with the Uchiha, for damage control _not_ to have another emotionally ruffled ninja added to her babysit list. Because frankly, dealing with kids never appealed to her. "Uzumaki, I want you to calm down. This is a delicate situation especially with Sakura's condition."

Hearing her booming voice cite reason, the blonde immediately quieted down and settled on a slow pacing motion instead of the anxiety-laced pace he had earlier; he was still too jittery from shock to sit. Naruto flicked his head to his right to glance at his sensei and wondered how he could be so calm. The man sat on the edge of the Hokage's desk looking as if nothing new was happening.

The two just found out that Uchiha Sasuke came back and all Hatake Kakashi did to show his concern was put away his porn book. Naruto found this outrageous.

The white-haired man gazed back at Naruto, his sole exposed eye tinged with thoughtfulness at the mention of his former student's condition. "How are Sasuke and Sakura taking it?" he asked coolly, glancing ever so slightly towards the window; as if hoping he'd see a little bob of pink hair walking around the village.

Tsunade gave a resigned sound and picked up her sake bottle that she'd taken from her bottom drawer; her sake drawer. She lifted it to her lips and threw it back; ignoring the disapproving look Kakashi was giving her. She glared at him, he was one to talk; he could never live without his porn book. The man wasn't exactly what one would call a 'good' influence.

"Let's just say, they're both very confused." She answered while wiping her lips with the back of her hand. "She isn't comfortable around him and he's a little shocked and, if not, a little annoyed that she has no memory of him."

"Oh?" Kakashi stated in mild surprise. With what he remembered Sasuke to be, Kakashi was pretty sure that the Uchiha would be a little pleased that Haruno Sakura had lost her memories of him. A small smile tugged at his mouth behind the mask. He knew the boy could never actually sever his ties with Konoha.

Naruto stopped in front of Kakashi, a happy gleam in his eyes. "Oi, Kaka-sensei! We need to get them to talk an—_'Slam!' _both ninjas whipped their heads towards Tsunade who'd slammed a fisted hand down on her desk. Tiny splinters of wood chipped off and flew upward at her sudden outburst. The Hokage's amber eyes blazed with anger as she eyed the be-whiskered ninja. "YOU WILL NOT. Under any circumstances put Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke within a three-foot radius of each other until I say it is allowed." My, oh my, was she being quite a dictator today.

The two males in her office had stared at her; one in pure shock and defiance, the other in silent agreement. The enraged sanin swept her hard gaze from Kakashi to Naruto. "Am I understood?"

_Why not? _They were friends at some point in their lives. They should be allowed to talk. Naruto made to protest against her order when Kakashi clamped a hand on his right shoulder. "She's right, Naruto. Listen to logic this time." He murmured quietly, albeit holding a tone authority in his deep baritone. Naruto was known to act on instincts and strong emotions. Needless to say, if Kakashi hadn't stepped in, the blonde would've contradicted the Hokage and probably get himself booted out of this operation. "You want to be part of this, we both know. So don't blow it." He continued. Kakashi felt Naruto's shoulders slump downward in defeat; he took his hand off and proceeded to stuff the hand he'd removed from the boy's shoulder into his pocket.

He addressed the Hokage. "Orders?" Tsunade put a hand on her forehead, thinking long and hard about her options; without the council, she'd have to make the decisions herself. She could only hope that she was making the right ones; for her sake, for Konoha's and for Sakura's. Amber met black. "He will be assigned to Team Kakashi."

At this course of action, Kakashi couldn't help but let out a startled jerk. This was a first. Team Kakashi had consisted of Himself, Naruto, Sai and, previously before she became ANBU, Sakura. With her gone, the team would have a medic from another team join them during missions Putting Sasuke into their team would mean they would exceed the standard four-man squad standard during missions. After all, dispatching five or more ninjas for one mission was only done for extreme purposes; for extreme missions. And with a newly made chuunin on his team, Kakashi shot a look at Naruto, the copy-nin doubted they'd be having one of those anytime soon.

As if reading his mind, Tsunade held up her hand. "He won't be joining you on missions as of now, so your slot for a medic will still be open. I just need somewhere to place him, I doubt he'd take well to sitting at home doing nothing— you are the smartest choice to put in charge." She stated in a business-like manner. "And Sakura's an ANBU. You need one more person to hit the standard team number."

Naruto who'd been quiet for quite a while finally looked up. "Sakura-chan is _still_ part of the team. She joins us in missions sometimes and when she's not busy, trains with us. How do you expect us to keep her from teme when she'll be in the same team?" he glared at her. He never grasped the idea of Sakura no longer being a part of the team. As far as Naruto was concerned, Sakura was still part of the team—ANBU or not.

Tsunaded threw Kakashi a resigned look. Was Naruto really bringing this up _now? _Couldn't the brat cut her a little slack? Damn these annoying, hormonal, emotional train wrecks. The copy-nin threw her a thumbs up in silent support and slight amusement—Hah, like t_hat_ was the kind of support she needed.

Rubbing her temples in annoyance, the Hokage addressed the blonde. "Technically, Sakura is an ANBU officer. That means she is under direct orders of the ANBU captain. She is not part of Team Kakashi." Tsunade gave a pointed look at Naruto who was about to interrupt her. "Sai is also part of the ANBU _but_ was officially assigned to your team—Sakura isn't, unless a situation calls for it, part of your team. She may be still involved with your team in a way and in the records, but that is mostly for cover. After all identities of all ANBU officers are kept secret. No one should know who is a part of ANBU, and her affiliation with Team Kakashi accomplishes that."

Naruto bristled; annoyed by how the Hokage had worded her answer. She'd made it seem as if Sakura was still with them because of duty and nothing else. Kakashi thought it time to intervene _again_. "Naruto, she's right." The boy's face twisted in annoyance at his remark, but Kakashi continued anyway. " Sakura's affiliation may be for cover but that doesn't mean she doesn't like it. She will always be part of us." The Hokage took another frustrated swig of sake. She called them to help her sort things out, not add more to her plate of 'Problems ala Shinobi'. "Uzumaki, if you continue to be a pain in the ass. Just leave."

With one more glare at the Hokage, Naruto sat back down on his chair with a huff and crossed his arms childishly. Kakashi took the opportunity to wrap up their meeting. "Is that all, Tsunde-sama?" The hokage nodded. "Yes, give me weekly reports. And if I see improvement in his disposition, he'll be allowed to take the Chuunin exam."

Kakashi nodded and was about to leave, with Naruto in tow when the Kyuubi host addressed the Hokage one more time. This time, however, his tone was pleading. "Are we just going to keep them away from each forever?" Naruto didn't like the idea of having to split his time between the two people he considered family.

Tsunade gave him a reproachful look. "Uzumaki, I just need to be sure that the procedure Sakura went through doesn't get messed up because of the Uchiha's return. Once I am sure that both parties are ready, they will be allowed to interact. Patience."

* * *

Konoha's streets seemed exceptionally crowded at this hour. People, both civilian and shinobi alike, walked in brisk paces, hoping to accomplish each of their own errands. Sakura was one of them. Though she didn't understand why she was in such a hurry. She just got back from a mission; and had absolutely nothing planned. Why she was weaving through a sea of people at quite a remarkable speed, she did not know. The ANBU officer clutched the item in her hands tightly; not wanting to drop it whilst going through the crowd of people.

Her green eyes sparked in recognition when she saw the building she was looking for. Abandoning the streets, Sakura took to the roofs, jumping from each building quickly, to quicken her arrival. She soared through a sea of multi-colored planes at a speed only a few could keep up with and grinned slightly when the building's roof got closer.

Her foot had barely touched the next roof when she felt an arm snake around her waist and pull her off the edge. Sakura had tried to regain her balance but was pulled down by the attacker's force. "What the hell?!" she blurted as she struggled out of the assailant's strong grip.

The two landed quietly in what looked like an abandoned alley and immediately, Sakura was shoved against the hard brick walls with enough force to knock her out of breath. She grit her teeth when her face hit the uneven barricade; wincing a little when she felt the rough surface scratch her face.

Sakura's eyes strained to see the attacker that had her at such an effective hold. By the way he'd ambushed and held her; she knew that he was of a higher calibre than Jounin. The rosette felt a warm gust of breath near her ear; the attacker had leaned forward. "Not nice being ambushed, huh, Sakura?"

The deep baritone of Uchiha Sasuke sent shivers up her spine. Confusing memories came flooding Sakura's mind at its deep sound. "What do you want, Uchiha?" she spat, not liking the way her face was pressed against the wall. The Uchiha heir had somehow managed to pin her to the wall in an uncomfortable position wherein her front side was being smooshed between him and the grimy building wall.

"You didn't win that little battle out there earlier." Sakura glared at the smug sounding young man behind her. Was he insane? He'd grabbed her from behind and pulled her off the edge of a roof just to tell her that he'd gone easy on her? Sakura scoffed. Whatever the Uchiha lacked in emotion, he made up for in arrogance. Though he did have the power to back up said arrogance, but it was still off putting to hear.

"If that's all you have to say Uchiha, I'll be on my way." She grumbled, leaning back sharply in hopes to break free of his grasp. Her shoulder hit his chest hard but the former rogue nin didn't seem fazed. In fact, he hadn't budged; it was as if her nudge was nothing but a gently gust of wind. Sasuke lazily adjusted his grip on her, smirking when he saw her glare at him. "I want to find out how much was taken."

The glaring ceased and Sakura stopped struggling when she heard his odd statement. She looked at him from the corner of her eye. How much _what _was taken? "I don't know what you mean." Sakura murmured. His eyes took on a thoughtful look.

"Of course you don't."

The young woman's mouth formed a thin line. Now, he wasn't making any sense at all. Absolutely zero on the 'logic' radar—_zilch._ Sakura opened her mouth to say something scathing when Sasuke whipped her around to face him; her back pressing against the cold uneven wall. "Do you remember what I said the night I left?" he asked. "Do you remember _anything_ about me_?_"

Sakura look astounded; her mouth was slight agape and her green eyes were wide. The night he left? She wasn't there the night he left. Maybe he'd confused her for someone else? She tossed that thought aside as quickly as it came, who else had pink hair? Sakura made a strange grumble at the back of her throat in a sad attempt to answer his question.

"She doesn't." came a masculine voice from above them. "Naruto." Sakura said almost breathlessly and using Sasuke's temporary shock to shake herself free from his hold. The blonde ninja hit the ground softly and grabbed Sakura's arm. "Way beyond the allowed distance." He mumbled quietly; earning a weird look from Sakura who was close enough to hear. "What?" she asked.

Naruto brushed her question aside. "Sakura, you should go." His stone was hard and clipped; Sakura noted how tense his jaw was, something was up with Naruto. "Naru—

"_Sakura-chan," _his tone was a clear message that he wanted her to leave. _NOW._ He barely even spared her a glance; his eyes were locked on the Uchiha's dark ones.

Sakura crossed her arms angrily, how many times did she have to be dismissed rudely? A fleeting look of irritation flashed across her features before she schooled her face into a mask of total blankness. "Fine." She bit out harshly, turning on her heels and stomping out of the alley. If she wasn't wanted then she was leaving. She'd grill Naruto later.

Naruto waited until Sakura's chakra was a good distance away before giving Sasuke a look of utter annoyance. "What part of 'altered memories' do you not understand?" he blurted loudly, not bothering with a 'welcome back' greeting; they both knew Sasuke would be back eventually.

Sasuke ignored the blonde's babble, stooping down to grab a piece of paper that had fallen from Sakura's hand when he had grabbed her. His slim fingers toyed with the fallen item and flipped it to its front side; it was a photograph.

Obsidian eyes stared at a picture of a young girl, no older than twelve, that had pink hair and a wide smile. Beside her were three other people; one, he recognized, was Kakashi looking no different than he did at the present, the other a twelve year old Naruto who was grinning and the last one was a stoic looking boy. It was the Team 7 photo; it looked the same.

Except that, the stoic looking boy in the picture w_asn't him_.

He stood up and showed Naruto the picture. "If I recall correctly, the ANBU member joined your team not too long ago." Naruto took this statement as Sasuke saying: 'Why is he in this picture?'. The two rivals stared at each other for a few tense seconds before Naruto sighed in defeat. "Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Call it curiosity." Sasuke retorted coldly. It was true anyway. He was merely intrigued. Wouldn't anyone who'd gotten erased from a friend's memory be a little curious as to how much of them the said friend remembered? It was natural to feel both confused and a little annoyed. "Dobe, if you were erased from Sakura's memory, wouldn't you be a little curious?"

"_I would_, but this is you we're talking about." Naruto mumbled, grabbing the photo and slipping it into his pocket; Sakura would kill him if he didn't give it back to her. "I thought you'd be thrilled that she doesn't remember you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's dramatic tendencies. "I hold her to some regard, Dobe." The Uchiha may not have considered Sakura to be the most appealing person to spend time with; he could name other people that were less annoying and _pink_, but he had to admit, he did have some kind of friendship with her; Enough of a friendship to warrant a little irritation and confusion from him for being completely wiped from her memory.

"I just want answers."

Knowing that the Uchiha was as stubborn as he was, Naruto chose to take the high road; a feat of such grandeur, mind you. It isn't every day that Uzumaki Naruto decides to avoid conflict. "I'll tell you what you need to know, but you have to keep away from her for a while. Whatever questions you want answered, you ask _me_. Don't go around pressing her up against wall again." Naruto said the last part in a rather exasperated manner. When he saw Sasuke nod, the blonde motioned to the building's roof with a jerk of his head.

Naruto pumped chakra to his feet and ran up the wall, making his way towards the roof of the building. "Let's talk in my apartment." He'd murmured before he's jumped.

* * *

The two young men stood awkwardly by the doorstep of Naruto's apartment. Its walls were painted an ashen shade of green and the floor was panelled with dark brown wood. Unlike Sakura's, which had a hallway, his was just one big square. Two doors on the wall adjacent the door frame led to a bathroom and a bedroom. On the right was a small kitchen with a bar table, that doubled as kitchen counter on its other side, separating it from the rest of the space; the living room took up the rest of the apartment, seeing as Naruto used the bar table as a dining table as well.

Naruto motioned for Sasuke to sit on one of the blue dark brown couches as he made his way to the kitchen. The blonde ransacked the cupboards for a plate; setting it on the bar table when he finally managed to find one. "Uh, I have some rice balls. You want some?"

"Hn."

Cerulean eyes glared at the houseguest. Screw being a nice host—he didn't have to fucking serve the Uchiha rice balls if he planned on being an ass. He could starve for all he cared. Abandoning the empty plate, Naruto stomped to where Sasuke was lounging and sat down on the couch adjacent to where the Uchiha was seated; only a stout coffee table separating the recently reunited team mates.

The silence from the Uchiha was an unsaid message for him to start talking. And so, after a little debate with himself, Naruto opened his mouth to explain to Sasuke just how much of him was erased from their former teammate's memories. "As you already know, it wasn't just the recent memories of you that were erased." Sasuke gave Naruto a look that said '_obviously'_ the blonde ignored the rude Uchiha and proceeded with his explanation.

"Sasuke," the addressed young man lifted an eyebrow at Naruto's use of his first name. "As far as Sakura is concerned, you were never in team seven." Sasuke stared at the blonde's blue eyes that held sympathy for him. The Uchiha was unaware that his eyes had widened slightly. "She has little memory of you. I think Tsunade altered a lot of her memories to make it seem as if you two never interacted."

"A little over the top, don't you think?" Sasuke stated, his voice deep and gravelly. True, having post-traumatic stress was bound to happen in a war and yes, it was a smart move to help those who'd fallen to instability. But Sasuke doubted that Sakura's memories from _that far_ in the past would affect her sanity. He saw Naruto shrug. "Tsunade has her reasons." The Uchiha couldn't help but scoff at his remark.

The w_ar _caused the stress, not her memories of the past; not the memories of him per se. So why erase him e_ntirely_? Why not modify Sakura's memory of _just_ the war just like what Tsunade had done with the rest of those who'd undergone the procedure? The Uchiha was certain that Sakura was the only one whose past had been altered.

Sasuke glared at the wall. Granted, Sakura not having her memories saved him the trouble of having to put up with her being annoying. But it hardly seemed fair to Sakura that Tsunade had tampered, more than was required, with her memory.

"I don't see her logic."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Think whatever you want, it's already been done. There's nothing you can do about it." His tone of finality earned him another glare from the Uchiha. "Hn." Sasuke smirked.

Uchiha Sasuke, believe it or not, had a lot of values that he held in high regard. That was one of the traits that made him, _him_; another trait of his was Sasuke's sense of justice; he wanted wrongs to be righted. He'd proved that he had this attribute when he killed his brother for slaughtering the clan; then when he found out why his brother had done it, Sasuke proceeded to kill the people who had brought upon the ill fate of the Uchiha Clan.

Sasuke always thought that wrongs had to be righted.

And being completely wiped out of Sakura's memories; was _wrong._

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW**

THANKS FOR READING

A/N: Do you see what reviews do to me? =) hahaha keep 'em coming guys.

**PS: ** I'm taking my ballet exam in two months and I'll be prepping and studying for that. (YES I HAVE TO STUDY BALLET TERMS) So that means I'll be writing in between training and studying. My updates won't be rapid fire but it won't be a slow as a turtle with one flipper either. Hope you guys understand.** I'm going SOLO during the exam so I have to do good, ya know? FOR MY FUTURE. hahahahaha BUT i love this story and I will keep writing it anyway while I train. Rest assured my dear readers. **

**(that was one long 'P.S.')**


	3. Chapter 3

This is where things get a bit lighter. Let's take a break from the drama, yes? (Just a little bit. I can never stay too dramatic, I need to cut things with a little lightness.) **_Thanks for the constant reviews! Nothing makes me happier than seeing a reviewer from chapter one review for chapter two._**_**I **__**hope**__** this story gets a hundred reviews in the future. Been a dream of mine to have a story that hit 100+ reviews…**_

_Disclaimer: Are Sasuke and Sakura dating? Did Danzo become a piece of bacon? IS ITACHI ALIVE?—No? I don't own Naruto then….._

Ok, I'll be uploading like maybe one or two chapters a month. However, this month is an exception…. Here's the last chapter for feb. So long 'til March, my lovelies. (March might be a slow month…ballet exam remember?)

* * *

Chapter 3: White Lies

Sakura rapped on her mentor's door and waited for her mentor to tell her to come in. When the muffled voice of the Godaime was heard through the wooden door, she twisted the knob and strode into the office; walking straight to her mentor's desk and placing her mission report on top of a neat pile of papers. Tsunade stared at the additional paperwork with disdain written across her features. "You hate me." She grumbled, staring at the pile that seemed to be stacking up quite quickly—_too_ quickly.

The scrape of wood against the floor broke the Hokage from her bout of self-pity. "You asked for a report. I complied." Sakura stated, defending herself before settling down on one of the two chairs that were situated in front of the Hokage's desk.

"I asked for it at ten o' clock… It's seven." Tsunade retorted hotly. Timing made a difference whenever paperwork was concerned. Tsunade's face held annoyance but she grabbed the report, her student had put on her table nonetheless.

Sakura just sat there, watching the Hokage with a careful gaze. Her mentor gave her a funny look. "You going to watch me do my paperwork?" Sarcasm coating her sentence as she gazed at the young woman who was seated much to erect to be taken as relaxed.

"There is something wrong with Naruto."

Ah, there it was.

Tsunade shuffled a few papers, placing some of them inside her drawer and brushing the rest aside. "Something is always wrong with Naruto." She mumbled, trying to deter their course of conversation at the expense of the Kyuubi host.

Sakura, however, had a strong resolve and pressed on despite the older woman's attempt to block the conversation. "Does he know Uchiha Sasuke?" watchful green eyes searched the Hokage for any sign of tension. But Tsunade's features didn't look guarded nor did her body look the least bit tense. Sakura gave up the search; she wasn't getting anything from it anyway. "Personally, I mean." She added quickly.

Tsunade sat with a bored look on her face, unfazed by Sakura's question. Well she _looked _unfazed. In truth, she'd been quite agitated at the mention of the Uchiha. But she was the Godaime; Tsunade knew better than to react to tense questions in front of a trained ANBU officer.

"Yes, the two were childhood friends before any of this chaos started." She wasn't exactly lying per se. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't remember Naruto mentioning him or anything…" she searched her brain for the memory of the Uchiha's face and came out empty-handed.

"You don't really expect to know a_ll_ of Naruto's friends, do you?" The rosette looked affronted. "Well excuse me if I was being curious." And it wasn't like Naruto had that big a network of friends; well he did _now_ but back then, she doubted he had any friends at all. If she remembered correctly, he was shunned by the entire village and had only started making friends when he became a genin. With that point, Sakura was pretty damn sure that she'd know one of Naruto's childhood friends.

Tsunade sighed, 'curious' seemed to be everyone's word of the day, and bratty was the mood of choice too. "Sakura, I know you are confused. But there's no point in dwelling on this. It's pointless—"

"Then why does he know me?"

Sakura received a glare from her mentor for the rude interruption. Did anybody respect authority nowadays? That question ran through her mind for a split second before answering. "You probably met him when you were kids and forgot. I guess he has good memory and placed your face when he saw you. Not many girls have pink hair."Tsunade felt a triumphant smile about to tug at her lips when she finished her argument. There was no way Sakura could find a hole in that argument.

Sakura cocked her head sideways as she took in her mentor's explanation. Well that was a plausible possibility. And now that Sakura thought about it; that could've been the case. Not everyone remembers who they meet as a child. She was actually about to accept that, that was indeed the explanation and she was being overly analytical over things.

Tsunade saw the ANBU officer get up from her chair when she noticed a slight glint in her eyes. "Wait," Sakura mumbled, sitting down again making the Hokage wipe the grin off her face immediately "He asked me if I remembered what he said the night he left."

The Godaime's foot twitched. She wasn't expecting that.

* * *

It's been a day since his return and Uchiha Sasuke was already bored to death. The sun's early morning rays peaked through his dark gray curtains and hit his face. Though it may sound dramatically heart-warming and lovely—it _wasn't. _The sun's blinding rays hit the Uchiha's eyelids causing an orangey color to appear in the inside of his eyelids.

Sasuke squished his eyes tighter; trying to get block out the light. Despite his efforts, the ray of light seemed too get stronger. This must've been nature's way of telling him to get off his ass and do something productive.

The Uchiha eyed the clock on his bedside table. "7 o' clock." He mumbled, reading the time aloud. He'd been up since four in the morning and had decided to just stay in bed; what was there to do anyway? Training was allowed only with supervision and until his chakra was sealed, he couldn't even set foot on the training grounds until then.

Sasuke threw back the covers of his bed and was about to get out of bed when the door banged open revealing a boxer clad Naruto with a bowl of ramen in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other.

"Teme, this is not working. I feel like we're a couple." He complained loudly, slurping a few noodles after he stated his compliant. "Dobe, we slept in separate places and this was _your_ idea." Sasuke quipped before slipping out of bed and tossing Naruto a shirt he found on the floor. "Put that on, I don't need to see your half-naked body at seven am."

He heard Naruto grumble a string of profanities before walking out of the room and into the living room. Technically the room wasn't his room; it was Naruto's.

The idiot had somehow managed to get him to agree to bunk in with him. _"You really think that landlords will accept an ex-convict as a tenant?"_ That had been the blonde's argument and sadly, Sasuke had to admit, he was _right_. Getting a place of his own would be a lot harder than he thought. His credentials didn't exactly really scream 'good person'. And so he had agreed to stay with the idiot until he established a good enough reputation to earn the trust of at least _one_ landlord.

"Teme! Hurry up so I can get dressed!" Naruto called from outside. Sasuke rolled his eyes and padded out of the room; entering the living room the moment he walked out the door. "All yours." He stated coolly before making his way to the kitchen.

The blonde jumped off the couch and mumbled 'Finally' before running into the room to change his clothes. Sasuke's ears picked up the opening of drawers and the ruffle of clothes as Naruto hastily got dressed. He raised an eyebrow. What was the rush? If he remembered correctly, Naruto never mentioned anything planned this early in the morning.

A faint _'Tap, Tap, Tap'_ sound came from the front door; someone was paying them a visit. The Uchiha, with the box of cereal still in hand, walked over and swung the door open. His face a little too hostile to be called pleasant, Sasuke stared at the man lounging lazily against the doorframe; his nose buried in a small _orange_ book.

"Interesting choice of cereal, Sasuke." Kakashi muttered; head snapping up and eyes wondering to the childishly coloured box that was in Sasuke's grip. "Interesting choice of literature," he quipped. That book barely had any literary qualities. The silve-haired man stroked his book defensively at Sasuke's harsh retort. "What are you doing here, Kakashi?"

"Kakashi-_sensei_." The copy-nin corrected, smirking behind his mask at the boy's confused face. "I'm guessing Naruto hasn't told you yet." Said boy came bursting out of the room in his usual orange and black outfit. He was met with his sensei's chiding stare and immediately opened his mouth to defend himself "Oi! Kaka-sensei! We were supposed to tell him together!"

"Tell me what?" Sasuke demanded glaring at Kakashi who'd let himself in. The older man turned to him and lifted a brow, though with his headband slanted, none of the boys saw the brow shoot up. Kakashi grabbed the cereal box. "You don't look so threatening with a bright yellow cereal box in your hand, Sasuke."

The Uchiha ignored the jab at his pride and repeated his question. "Tell me _what_?" he bit the last part in annoyance. He wasn't known for his patience on trivial matters. His dark eyes followed his former sensei that had walked to the couch and plopped down. Kakashi swung his head to meet Sasuke's gaze. "You've been assigned to my team."

Sasuke's face to on a face of mild shock, he was being placed in a team already? Well, he didn't entirely mind the arrangement; it meant that he was allowed to train a little. This wasn't a bad set up at all. Team seven was his former team after all, being teamed back up with them was better than being placed in Team Gai; after all the latter's team also had a slot opening after the sad but heroic death of Hyuuga Neji.

Although, Sasuke didn't think that the weapons user of Team Gai would take likely to him replacing the Hyuuga.

The three men stood there, rather awkwardly, before Kakashi clapped his two hands together to get the attention of his 'students'. "Yosh, let's go." He said with finality in his town before grabbing both Naruto and Sasuke by their shirts. "Let go of me you oaf!" Naruto grumbled, stumbling to keep up with his sensei's fast strides. "The appointment is in an hour! It's not like you're one for being early!"

The two started bickering. Well sort of; Kakashi, let his blonde student yap away without interruption while he turned to Sasuke. "So, I've heard from Tsunade that you're quite irked about—well, you know."

Sasuke who had been doing his best to block out Naruto's yelling, glared at the copy-nin. He gets a _little _annoyed about her not remembering him, and everybody automatically thinks that it's because of some deeper reason than just plain shock and confusion. He thought Kakashi would cut him some slack, guess not.

Wanting to draw the conversation away from the controversial situation he had regretfully stumbled into, Sasuke shifted his gaze to Naruto; yes, he was t_hat_ desperate. "Dobe, where are we going?"

The blonde who'd finally stopped spitting out nonsense, threw an arm around Sasuke's shoulders, immediately getting a frustrated grunt in response to the sudden gesture. Naruto ignored his teammate's sound of discomfort and began to drag him forward. "We're getting your chakra sealed and setting you up with a therapist!"

Sasuke gave an unnoticeable flinch at the blonde's word of choice and the loudness of his voice when he'd announced it. He did not exactly want the whole village to know he was undergoing a few sessions of, what he'd prefer to call, mental rehabilitation rather than therapy. He was currently known to be the "Sole Uchiha Survivor" but the young man couldn't help but think that after his teammate's outburst, he'd be known as "The Only Uchiha to Ever Need Therapy"

He felt a slight weight on his left shoulder, Sasuke glanced to his side and stared at his sensei with questioning eyes. "Its standard protocol, you can't get out of it." He heard the silver-haired ninja say before quickly lifting the hand from his shoulder.

The trio continued their stroll through the village and in a matter of minutes, they found themselves standing outside the Hokage's, now-getting too familiar, wooden door. Naruto being Naruto didn't bother with knocking and decided to burst the door open.

"Baa-chaa— Sasuke heard Naruto's voice catch in his throat.

Naruto's eyes met Tsunade's widened amber eyes and quickly slid over to the head that was faced away from them; a head that had pink hair and was slowly turning to face him. To a typical person, everything was going at normal speed; there was no difference in speed at all. But to a trained ninja, time seemed to slow during a tense situation and every movement was seen at a much slower pace, divided to the last millisecond.

The Kyuubi-host watched Tsunade's face harden visibly at the sight of the Uchiha. Sakura, sensing her mentor's discomfort voiced a question of concern while continuing her turn to look at the door.

The blonde quickly shoved the Uchiha with enough force to knock him away a good distance and Sasuke, being taken by surprise, was knocked to the right, away from the door frame; out of sight from both the Hokage and her apprentice. The raven-haired teen struggled to find his footing and let out a few curses; he straightened and was about to snap at Naruto when Kakashi motioned for him to be quiet with a discreet flick of a hand to his covered lips.

"Sa-Sakura-chan!" Sasuke heard the dobe exclaim.

* * *

The door behind the ANBU officer/ medic boomed open and Tsunade's face took on a look of shock which then proceeded to contort into anger and slight panic. Sakura's first instinct was to whirl around; and she did.

Her green eyes were greeted by a figure in orange who was grinning, although it looked as if the grin was a little forced. "Sa-Sakura-chan!" she heard the ninja exclaim a little too loudly. "Naruto? You're here pretty early…"

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "You're pretty early yourself, Sakura-chan." He mumbled; a little abashed. His explanation was no lie. Tsunade had given him orders to take the Uchiha to her at seven am this morning for his chakra sealing procedure. She had assured him that they'd be finished before Sakura came over for her mission report.

Sakura's eyes took on a little mischief at the arrival of her dear friend. _Just the person I wanted to see. _"Naruto, I have a question…" she started, shifting her weight a little in her seat as she eyed the blonde. She saw his eyes flicker to Tsuande slightly but she paid it no heed. "Uchiha Sasuke claims that I was there during his departure and that he'd told me something. What did he say and why don't I remember being there?"

At that point, Tsunade was pretty sure that the plan would fall apart and the months of work she'd done with Sakura were going to be lost. She glanced at Naruto, trying to hid her hopelessness, expecting to see a speechless look of defeat. Only to be surprised by his calm and normal looking demeanour.

Naruto smiled and took a seat next to Sakura, Kakashi waved at his former student but stayed behind, near the door. After one glance at Kakashi for a little encouragement, the blonde turned to Sakura and gave her a grin. "I knew he was leaving and during the night he left, we were with Kaka-sensei. You were sick with a high fever and when I disappeared to look for him, you followed me and saw him instead." He paused for a few moment and looked at Sakura whose eyebrows had furrowed.

" I found you later passed out and even sicker than ever." His eyes locked on hers. "The fever must've knocked you out."

Tsunade was still too stunned by the boy's quick thinking to support or contradict his statement. All she could do was school her features into a mask of confidence as she looked at her apprentice.

"That's why I don't remember? I was sick?" She asked slowly, the mental gears of her mind working on overdrive. Well it was a plausible explanation Sakura thought. The Chuunin exams were pretty rough on her; she wasn't exactly that durable during those times, getting sick and passing was not hard to believe.

The blonde looked at Tsunade, trying to get her in on the act. "Baa-chan, didn't you say that sometimes a really bad fever can make you forget about certain things? Like when Konohamaru forgot about Moegi's birthday due to that bad flu." The Hokage nodded and arched a brow at her student. "Don't tell me you forgot. That lesson was one of the first lessons I taught you."

Sakura put up her hands in defence. "Sorry, Sorry." She mumbled at little ashamed. Sakura twisted her fingers; a nervous habit that only appeared when not in the field and usually around close friends. Amber and Blue orbs watched the young woman stand. "I'll be going, shishou. I'm doing my rounds at the hospital before heading to headquarters."

Kakashi crossed his arms and grinned at the Hokage, the only indication of the gesture was the crinkling of his exposed eye. "You overwork her too much, Tsunade-sama." Sakura rolled her eyes at Kakashi before saying a quick goodbye and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

The false smile on Naruto's face disappeared and his face darkened. "I don't like lying." Tsunade gave him a pointed stare. "I don't like paperwork, but I do them anyway." Something about Hohkage's face told Naruto that if given the opportunity, Tsunade would have cited a different example; maybe one involving a certain pink haired ninja who'd left a few seconds ago and her altered memories.

Naruto remained quiet, her response made sense. They were Shinobi and every day, they were faced with decisions that were hard to make; always having to choose between the lesser evil.

"Your seven thirty is here." Kakashi called out in a secretarial manner giving her a mocking peace sign and pulling the Uchiha from his hiding spot and lightly pushing him inside. Sasuke heard the door close behind him and allowed himself to be ushered towards the Hokage.

Tsunade stood from her seat, temporarily setting aside the issue and focusing on another one; Uchiha Sasuke and the many complexities that came with him. "Take your shirt off and sit, this shouldn't take too long." The Uchiha obeyed and lifted the shirt above his head; placing it on the backrest of the chair before sitting down.

The Hokage walked over to him and examined him quickly but thoroughly; glancing ever so slightly over his shoulder to where the curse mark had been. As if reading her mind, Sasuke muttered lowly. "Itachi." Tsunade nodded, remembering the talk they'd had a day ago.

After they initial check-up, Tsunade proceeded to seal Sasuke's chakra but gave him a little leeway. "As discussed, your chakra will be cut in half until your probation is over. The sealing procedure makes sure that when your chakra replenishes after training or whatever you use it for, you are only going to be refilled half-way." Sasuke felt her hands leave him signalling that the procedure was finished and that he was free to put on his shirt.

He watched her stride back to her wooden desk and plop down onto her seat with as much grace as a bear that had just recently gotten out of hibernation. Her face looked pretty irritated too. If Sasuke found out that she was his therapist, they were going to go nowhere with his 'mental stability' and aggression issues.

"Proceed to room number 14-A, psyche ward; left wing of the hospital." she mumbled into her hand; she'd smacked a hand to her face in an attempt to hide her irritation. "Get in, do whatever you have to do, get out. Do nothing and go nowhere else when in the hospital."

The three made to leave when Tsunade slapped the hand she'd used to cover her face on the table. "Hatake." She barked. "Stay. I need to have a word."

* * *

The left the Hokage's office in a rushed manner, mainly because Tsunade had looked like she was about to bring out the cutlery and eat them alive. "Must be menopause." Naruto muttered, a scowl on his boyish features. Sasuke nodded. For the first time in a long while, they had agreed on something.

"Oi, teme."

Sasuke's eyes flitted to his blonde teammate for a few seconds before looking straight ahead once more; a sign that meant: 'What is it?'

The Uchiha watched his comrade break into a mischievous grin; his eyes taking on a competitive spark. Sasuke knew what was coming.

"Race ya." Naruto muttered before pumping chakra to his feet and bounding off in a speed that could do more than break a neck. Sasuke glared at the blurry orange figure ahead of him before doing the same and flying forward; catching up with Naruto in a matter of seconds.

And the race was on.

* * *

Ino stood outside the hospital doors breathing a in deeply and letting the breath out in a quick huff. The stress of the hospital was a little too much for her right now. The blue eyed beauty checked her watch and brightened immediately; her volunteer shift in the kids' wing just ended. "Finally," she muttered to no one in particular "I'm done with the brats." If she had to fake a grin to get one more kid to drink their anti-biotic one more time, she'd most likely implode.

She tuned on her heels and was about to retreat into the building when a blur of black and orange sped past her; knocking her over in the process. The purple clad kunoichi grabbed the door handle quickly to steady herself. "Oh thank Kami-sama, my shift in the kid department is over." She mumbled before opening one of the double doors and slamming it shut behind her.

* * *

An elderly woman directed a couple who wanted to see their child in the recovery ward. After reassuring them that their little daughter would be okay and that her room was two doors down the hall, she turned to talk to a nurse about getting some coffee for her when two young men literally crashed into the table.

Papers flew everywhere and rained down on the stunned looking woman. She opened her chapped lips to speak but it seems the blonde had beat her to it. "Mesuki-baachan! Who touched your table first?!" Naruto yelled; almost shaking the woman by her shoulders.

"Dobe, stop yelling." Sasuke mumbled quietly while he tried to smooth down his shirt. Naruto glared at him. "Shut up, you cheated! I was clearly winning."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "_You _were winning? I don't remember that."

Mesuki glared at the young men. "Aside messing up my neatly organized papers, what did you come here for?"

Seeing as Naruto was a little too frazzled to speak, Sasuke took it upon himself to state their purpose. "Tsunade sent us. We are to go to room 14-A for—

"Ah yes, your therapy session." Sasuke flinched again. He would never get used to the concept of therapy. Dark obsidian orbs watched the elderly woman scribble something on a slip of paper and hand it to him. "Left wing, there will be another desk. They handle the wing's affairs and appointments over there. Give this to whoever is assigned there; it'll make you jump the appointment list. Your situation is…special."

Naruto gave her a charming smile and thanked her before dragging Sasuke to where they were directed, giving the Uchiha only enough time to grab the slip of paper from Mesuki's hand.

The two reached the desk quickly and handed the slip to a blushing nurse who proceeded to pick up the phone to call the specialist's assistant. Naruto and Sasuke listened to their brief discussion. She put down the phone and looked up to meet Sasuke's gaze. "She's expecting you Uchiha-san. Her assistant will give you some forms to fill out. 14-A is that way."

* * *

Sasuke walked into the office, Naruto trailing not far behind him. He saw a bookish looking girl with mousy brown hair look up from the paper she was reading. "Uchiha-san?" she asked, closing the folder and fixing her glasses. "Hn."

The assistant stood up and presented him with a form to fill out. "Please fill this out for me. As soon as you're done, she'll see you." she motioned to the door on the far wall. Naruto grinned and got comfortable in one of the lounge sofas.

A few minutes, two more forms and a brief weigh-in session, Sasuke and Naruto were finally allowed to enter the room.

"Dobe," Sasuke mumbled, entering the therapist's office. "Why are you here?" weren't therapy sessions supposed to be private; a one on one thing between specialist and patient? Naruto matched his glare with a grin. "I was ordered to escort you here and unless told otherwise specifically by the therapist, I am to stay with you. I'm in for one helluva show."

"Actually Uzumaki, I was just about to kick you out." A female voice stated casually; both boys snapped their head to look at the woman who was situated behind a heavy looking desk. Naruto spoke up. "Why?!"

"Because you just referred to my patient's session as a show."

Naruto bristled. "Oh come on, Ino!" The Yamanka fixed Naruto with a stare. "Naruto, I may not exactly be officially a psychoanalyst but I'm on my way there. This is my field besides being my team's medic, and I will kick your ass if you mess with my guinea pig. "

"You're a florist with a knack for messing with people's minds." With one more pointed glance at Ino, Naruto stomped out of the room. "I'll be waiting outside." He told Sasuke before slamming the door shut. Ino glared at the idiot. "Pompous idiot. Just because I deal with flowers and plants, does not automatically make me a florist!" she huffed. "I do love flowers and all but I deal with much more complex things than just thinking about their arragnement!" Like what, what each flower means? Sasuke was tempted to say.

The Uchiha stared at the young woman in front of him. This was a volatile female who would pounce on anyone who called her fat. Was making her handle patients that needed therapy a good idea? Ino looked at him and smiled. "Surprised?"

She took his silence as a yes. "As you already know, my jutsus have always involved the mind. I've decided to develop that and delve deeper; to study how the mind works. Aside from my flower and plant specialty, I've chosen to harness this talent to aid people who need help in terms of the mind and their psychological state. So far, I've been doing a good job. Tsunade's been handing me patients and none of them has gone off the bend yet." She grinned and motioned for him to sit. Besides, the war was over and missions were on the low, so far. She needed something besides plants to focus on during the past few years.

"A few more years of training and studying and I'm going to secure myself a position as part of the ANBU psychoanalyst division." Her assistant came in and handed her Sasuke's forms. She sat back and read through them carefully, her face betraying no emotion when she scanned his neat handwriting.

A few questions popped into the young Uchiha's head. If Ino dealt with the mind, did she handle Sakura? Did she still handle Sakura? He brushed these questions aside and voiced out a different one. "How long and how often will I be having these sessions?"

Her eyes were still on the paper when she answered. "Three times a week and until I say you're good to go." She set down her the files and looked up at him; her baby blue eyes piercing.

"Now, let's get to work. If you excuse me, I'd rather you not block this." Sasuke watched her do a series of hand seals. His eyes widened. She was going to enter his mind. Unsure eyes met confident ones. "I'm allowed to do this, this was why she sent you to me in the first place."

And with that she entered the mind of Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

"I did not take pains during the alteration of her memories only to have them go to waste because of her constant questioning. It is only natural for her to be curious, that is why I told you to keep him away from her. I will not have her learning of the things that I went through great lengths to erase!"

Kakashi nodded in understanding, resting a hand on his knee and leaning his head on the palm of his hand. "But keeping them apart will be difficult; intercepting their actions or schedules will raise questions. And there's only so much we can do to keep it discreet." Tsunade listened to his input with determined ears. He had a point. "Plus, situations may occur wherein they are both required to be present at the same time."

"If they insist on interaction, make them start anew; not to try and pick up where they left off because as far as she's concerned, they had no past." Tsunade muttered. "But for now, distance is key; for now. Play it by ear; nothing is certain in this situation."

Kakashi stood up and bowed. "I will inform Naruto about the changes." He said.

"Hatake, only you are to decide, understood?" Kakashi muttered an affirmative and poofed out of the room in a matter of seconds, leaving the stresses Hokage to herself.

Tsunade banged her head against her desk. How is it that she'd changed her plan merely a day after she'd decided on the previous one? She needed sake. And she needed it _now._

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW =)**

**Reviews make me happy. Happy me = better chapters. (Get my drift? Hahaha)**

**A/N: Had to get that out of my chest before focusing on my ballet for the whole of March til mid April. Updates won't be as fast as they were this month. Like I said I AIM to upload one or two chapters a month. I love this story. I'm just letting you guys know that March will be a slow month. **

**PS: OK, before feathers get ruffled. Yes…I made Ino a mind specialist. Honestly it's NOT that far off. I took what I could with her Justus and played it up. It's fanfiction we're allowed to have fun with the characters. It's just that I always see stories always mention flowers and whatnot. I wanted to be a little diverse with Ino. I kept the flower relation though but yeah I chose to develop her career using her mind techniques as a foundation… That's all. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Half of this was typed while LITTLE GIRLS WERE FLOCKING ME. So if it feels a little detached, I'm sorry.** I honestly didn't think I exuded that much of a friendly aura with my black shirt, dark jean, converse and scowl on my face combo. But they just kind of started gravitating towards me. I think I've developed a following—they kept offering me their chairs and looked sad when I chose only one. (I'm sorry, I just have one ass, you know?) At least I rest assured that I won't be a total loser when dealing with kids in the future, right?

**THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS GUYS, PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING. They inspire me to write, they really do; no lie. New reviewers: Glad you like where this is going. Constant reviewers: I love seeing familiar names! I hope I see them for every chappie. **

**TO MY SILENT FOLLOWERS: Thanks for the faves and follows. I love you guys. But if you guys could review, that'd be great. I love getting feedback. It's part of the reader-author interaction concept. I'd love to know what you think, expect, or feel.**

**_Read and Review, guys =)_**

Chapter 4: Gray is for Regret

* * *

_The guards at the gate weren't breathing. How could one breathe when one had a kunai stuck to his neck? Blood seeped from the men's bodies and onto the dusty ground, forming a think puddle around them; soaking the ground with the red liquid. A young boy leapt over the puddle, his eyes trained above it to avoid seeing it, and ran anxiously throughout the compound screaming as he avoided more bloodied dead bodies of his relatives, trying to ignore the gruesome scene that seemed to stretch out before him like a never-ending nightmare. The sky above him seemed to look red, like the blood that stained the once clean roads; it looked as if the sky was bleeding too. The moon was a black ball that cast an ominous shadow over the Uchiha Compound._

_It was a perfect night for death. _

_FLASH_

_He saw his parents' body hit the ground; the lean form of his older brother towering over them, his hand holding a bloodied Katana. It wasn't the blood that scared him, it was the look on his brother's face; it held no remorse—no emotion. _

_He felt his knees go weak and saw the floor coming closer; he collapsed. _

_FLASH_

_"You are weak." He heard his brother say. The boy was twelve now and at such a young age, harboured hate way beyond his years; a hatred that he'd nurtured and held onto until it grew to be the monstrous size that it currently was. _

_FLASH_

_Searing pain, that was all he felt for weeks as the bite he'd gotten from the Sanin manifested into something more sinister and deadly. He didn't care; the pain was necessary—worth it. It would, after all, give him power and he wanted, no, needed, power._

_FLASH_

_He watched his brother's dead body fall to the ground before he succumbed to the darkness that had been threatening to claim him. It was done—over. His purpose was fulfilled; or so he thought. _

_FLASH_

_"Who are you?" he heard a deep chuckle. "Uchiha Madara."_

* * *

It had been a full fifteen minutes since Ino's entrance into Uchiha Sasuke's mind. When she'd pulled out, Sasuke was barely aware of the time that had elapsed, it honestly didn't feel very long but from the look of slight fatigue in Ino's eyes, he was certain she'd been in there longer than she'd ever been in anyone's mind before.

He stared at her without concern; she'd entered his mind and he was still a little irritated over that fact. But he seemed feel slightly—just _slightly_ guilty that she had to go through the tiring process just because Tsunade told her to so, he threw her a concerned look, albeit a little more subdued than most; it, however, disappeared the moment Ino cracked a huge grin.

"You slept in Naruto's bed?" Ino asked, holding in a laugh; her baby blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears as she tried her hardest to keep the snicker that threatened to resonate out of her mouth. She'd been trying to hold in her laughter ever since the Kyuubi-host had made an appearance in the Uchiha's mind.

Sasuke glared at the woman in front of him with such intensity he could've sworn it could cause her to just drop dead. That reaction from her just about killed the little concern he had for the blonde's well-being; that had previously bubbled within him.

The feeling was replaced with a cross between frustration and confusion. Wasn't she supposed to _help_ him? If he remembered correctly, therapists were supposed to make their patients feel at ease.

"If you're done laughing, I'll be going now." He grit out, pulling his chair back to give his legs room to stretch. At the motion, Ino composed herself and held out her hand. "No. Wait! I'm sorry. I'm just trying to lighten up the mood."

She put on her business face, the one her mentor had taught her. Ibiki was never one for fun, it was amazing that he'd taken her in as a student of some sort; the two were clearly quite the opposites of each other. "Look, Uchiha. The point of this is interaction. If you don't tell me anything, I'm going to go all Ibiki on you. And don't take that threat lightly. He's my mentor."

Sasuke gave her a weird look. "Ibiki didn't strike me as the shrink type."

"Hon, I'm not just geared to be a psychoanalyst; I'm being trained to be an interrogator. Those to go hand in hand" Ino gave him a warning glare. "Now I'll explain to you how that jutsu worked and how much I saw."

Sasuke shifted nervously in his seat. He was not one for spilling his secrets and to have this woman he barely knew enter his mind just like that was quite unnerving. Ino read his subtle actions and gave him an understanding smile. "Sasuke, I only looked at what I needed to know, I didn't look around way more than I should have."

"So here's how this works. When something affects you and your life strongly, whether good or bad, your brain holds on to that memory. For example, the massacre; you remember it so vividly because it impacted you to such an extent. I tapped into those memories" The Uchiha has remained silent as he took in the information that Ino was feeding him. "The jutsu I used, taps into those memories and check the emotional flares you experience when those memories play out." She smirked, Sasuke was known for hiding most of his emotions— knowing that she could access them at a snap was bound to make him uncomfortable; she couldn't help but revel in that moment a little bit. He wasn't the most kind to her when they were twelve and she couldn't help but relish the payback she was serving.

"These emotional flares are multi-colored. Each color depicting your emotions; red for anger, black for hatred, gray for regret…this list goes on. Of course, these are general emotions, I don't pick up any 'in-between' emotions but I do see multi-emotions; combinations composing of two or three emotional flares for each memory." She took a breath before continuing to explain to him the procedure. It was a tiring thing but she needed him to understand what was going on.

"With you I see mostly red and black; sometimes both in one memory. This leads me to believe that though you seem to be fine, you are still harbouring these feelings despite some happy memories you've made." Sasuke snorted, happy memories? He barely had any of those; well maybe he did, but the sheer darkness that he felt had eclipsed what small happiness he'd felt at some point in time. "Don't give me that sceptical look. I saw some memories with a silver flare, you have happy memories." Ino took out a notebook and began to furiously scribble into it while her findings were still fresh

Sasuke stared at Ino quietly, the only form of noise coming from Ino's pen scratching the paper as she wrote on her notbook. "Impressive." He admitted; no sarcasm or mockery in his tone at all. He had to give her some credit, the mind was a difficult thing to deal with and the girl had developed a way to make life a bit easier for her line of work. Ino looked up briefly from her desk and gave him a brilliant smile. "A lot can happen in a few years eh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought back on the recent events. "Hn." He couldn't agree more.

* * *

Naruto was dozing off in one of the lounge chairs when he was suddenly pushed off and hit the floor with a resounding _THUD._ The blonde lifted his irritated gaze, following the pair of ninja sandals that were in his view, up to their owner's legs and eventually reaching the face of the person he was going to deform with a rasengan.

Cerulean eyes met mirth filled baby blues and suddenly the prospect of smashing someone's face in was out of the question. "Wake-y, Wake-y, Uzumaki." Ino said in a singsong voice, nudging him with her foot as if he were a dead animal that she found out on the streets. "You done playing doctor?" Naruto quipped, sitting up and rubbing his sore head. He wouldn't hit her, that didn't mean he was going to be nice.

"Were you expecting a prince?" Ino asked, Naruto glared at her. "No. Just a gentler awakening." The male blonde looked over Ino's shoulder and spotted Sasuke behind her; smirking, like an asshole.

"You're out pretty early." He stated, as he checked the clock that hung on the wall, above Ino's office door. Tsunade had told him that Sasuke's sessions were to last an hour and thirty minutes; Sasuke was out a full thirty minutes earlier than expected. A small snicker escaped the be-whiskered blonde's lips; earning a disgruntled look from the Uchiha and his therapist. Sasuke must've been a handful if Ino was already giving up on him.

Said girl silenced him with a look while she extended a hand to help him up. "First days are always cut short. I'll see him again the day after tomorrow for a proper session. I hope he develops at tongue so we can actually start talking, though." She threw Sasuke a warning glance. "I don't want to keep tapping into my chakra just to be able to catch a glimpse of what's going on in his head."

"I'll make sure he grows one soon." Naruto stated, going along with Ino's joke at Sasuke's expense. The Uchiha merely shrugged and made his way to the door. He held the door open and waited for Naruto to walk out before he closed the door but not before looking at Ino one more time, he tilted his head back and stared at the blonde. "See you, Friday." And then he closed the door; leaving Ino to stare at him; a small smile gracing her features.

She turned to her female secretary. "That's the closest to a date I'll ever get from Uchiha Sasuke." She joked. Ino laughed at the thought of saying that she was busy Friday night because she was going to see the Uchiha.

Boy, would Sakura be jealous.

Ino halted her train of thought. "No. She won't be jealous." She whispered to herself so her assistant wouldn't hear. Sakura wouldn't be raging or even the slightest bit jealous because she doesn't remember.

As if the thought of her friend had awoken her focus, Ino turned to her the brunette manning the table outside her office; a business like face schooled onto her features. "Cancel my appointments for today and get me a meeting with Tsunade-sama."

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke walked side by side along the village, ignoring the odd stares they received from the onlookers that stopped what they were doing to watch the two village outcasts walk alongside each other.

"Reminds me when I was detested." Naruto said lightly, throwing his hands up in the air to stretch; his casual tone not matching the dark comment he'd made. It was a little off-putting that Naruto had gotten used to the scorn of the villagers; granted that it had subdued as the years went by because of the blonde's accomplishments and the fact that he killed Uchiha Madara. Why a few people were still a little hateful towards him was a little stupid. Had Naruto not already proven himself, time and time again, as someone who is worthy of a little warmth?

"What's it feel like to be at the other end of the spectrum, Teme?" Naruto joked, nudging the brooding Uchiha who he thought was way too silent.

Sasuke glared and shoved his hands into his pockets. "They're staring at you too, baka."

"Only because I'm with you,"

Sasuke's back stiffened slightly. Of course, that's why they were looking at Naruto; they were shocked to see the golden boy walk side by side with the traitor. How could he not have seen that? All the while he was thinking that some people still harboured hatred for the fox-like blonde when really, it was him they hated, not Naruto. The Uchiha looked at one of the villagers who'd thrown Naruto a questioning look.

"Aa." Sasuke muttered. He didn't exactly care if they hated him; hate was something he was accustomed to. It was what he thrived on during the majority of his life—hate no longer held as much gravity as it used to.

"Uzumaki-san! Why are you still with him? He's—

Sasuke simply ignored the blundering civilian and made to move forward when he heard Naruto's sandals its _Clack Clack-ing _sound. The stoic Uchiha didn't bother turning around, Naruto's voice was enough to let him assess the situation.

"He's my f_riend_."

Naruto's words seemed to take both Sasuke and the civilian by surprise. The civilian was shocked at the ferociousness of his tone and Sasuke; stunned by how much lighter he'd felt after the blonde's statement. As if that mere acknowledgement alone had somehow made him feel better; he would never admit it, but it was nice to still have someone who believed and cared about him.

Sasuke's alert ears heard the man apologize profusely to Naruto who half snorted-half scoffed at the snivelling layman. After a dozen or more rapid-fire apologies to the blonde, the unnamed man stumbled away; tripping on every stone and crack at his panicky pace.

"Can you believe that guy?" He heard Naruto say in obvious frustration, "Better not accept any offers of food and drink, for a while." The blonde joked, once again throwing an arm around Sasuke's shoulders and dragging him forward; this time however, Sasuke saw it coming but he let the idiot drag him anyway.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the place before him with some sort of subdued interest, his eyes glazing over slightly as memories of his childhood days seeped through his mind as his eyes locked on the three iconic tree stumps that had brought them together as a team. Naruto, who'd been a few steps in front of him, walked further and landed a gentle kick on one of the wooden stumps. "This thing was a lot taller when we were twelve, eh, teme?" he mused, turning halfway to meet Sasuke's dark eyes, his blue eyes holding a question in them. "Answer me honestly. Did you miss the bell test?"

The Uchiha quirked a brow as the memory of the blasted bells flowed into his mind. That specific test was unique; only conducted by Kakashi. Sasuke had a feeling that the tradition would die with him. No one was good enough to conduct it again. Naruto would've been a candidate to uphold the 'bell test' legacy seeing as that he, unlike Sasuke, would enjoy it; which ultimately was the point of the whole thing for the conductor, but the idiot would probably lose focus for a few moments to relish the inability of the younglings to do a simple task; that would be enough for any genin to sneak up on him and snag the bells.

His eyes wandered to Naruto. Did he miss the bell test? The annoying test that he was never able to pass? "Aa." He muttered quietly, turning away from Naruto— yes, he did.

In fact, he could almost hear the faint jingle they made every time Kakashi moved. His head snapped up the same time Naruto's did, their eyes met for a split second in slight bewilderment before both of them turned around to see Kakashi; head buried in his porn book and a pair of bells dangling on his outstretched arm.

They watched him snap the book close and stuff it into his pocket. Sasuke's eyes gleamed with a little pride. The last time they were given this test, the copy-nin had been reading his book half of the time before putting it away. Now, before even declaring the test, he'd stashed it; recognizing that this time, he'd need to put his back into it.

He was after all challenging the sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan and the Kyuubi-host; whom both had improved in such great lengths. "Bell test." Sasuke heard their sensei say as he shook the tiny bells.

Naruto and Sasuke made to dash at him when he held a hand up to stop their actions. "Revised version."

Sasuke made to speak "What?" he voiced in confusion.

Kakashi smiled through his mask before sliding his gaze from Sasuke's mildly intrigued one to Naruto's full-on annoyed features. "We all know that, you are skilled at ninjutsu, elaborate weaponry—and all. So you two aren't allowed to use any of those. Taijutsu is the game—no chakra." He smiled. "Well only half your chakra. That makes only one fourth for you, Sasuke."

He crossed his arms at Kakashi's statement. Why would he have to reduce his already sealed chakra even more? Naruto's was full— obviously he'd have to use just half. But Sasuke's was already halved. Kakashi turned to him, voicing an answer to his mental question. "He has to restrict, you have to restrict. Rules of the game. Besides, your chakra is technically considered full; this is your version of a full chakra tank until your probation is over."

Sasuke couldn't believe Kakashi was playing philosopher; lecturing him on perspective and how one sees things. The last person who'd been philosophical towards him was Madara—and he _killed_ him.

Naruto was less calm about the situation. "C'mon, Kaka-sensei! You totally rigged it because you know we've gotten powerful." Kakashi simply shrugged of the barb, both boys knew that he too was a force to be reckoned with; not to be taken lightly.

"GO."

The two boys lunged at their sensei; Sasuke reached him first and stretched an arm out to grab the bells that dangled lazily from his hand only to swipe at nothing but air. Kakashi appeared on top of one of the tree trunks behind them. Naruto skidded to a halt and glared at the silver-haired ninja. "No fair! I thought we could only use Taijutsu! Why do you get to use everything?!"

The silver-haired ninja put a hand on his heart in fake sadness."Because you guys have gotten powerful," Kakashi quipped; using the blonde's words earlier to mock him. He received two hostile looks for his joke. "Kakashi-sensei." The copy-nin heard Sasuke say; his statement entailing more of a question than a mere beckon by the sound of his voice.

Dropping his hand to his sides and straightening slightly, Kakashi addressed his two underlings in a teacher-like manner. "In the battlefield, a place you both are familiar with already, sometimes enemies have too much of the upper hand; as proved so many times. This is to help you two learn to use what little advantages you have and _win." _The copy-nin had a point. Sasuke and Naruto were heavy on chakra usage. If it were taken away, things would be a lot more difficult; this could be a fatal flaw. Though they were trained to assess the situation and adapt, there was no denying that it would be extremely difficult if they were to battle an enemy who had a serious upper hand.

"Further training, if you will," Kakashi continued. "A Shinobi is known for making do with what he has, something that is already instilled in you two, but practice makes perfect and if this helps you take down an enemy with all the aces then we will do it as often as possible." He looked at his students, their faces that were once contorted with annoyance finally schooled into ones of understanding.

Sasuke was impressed, after years of training; he'd thought himself an expert. But Kakashi still had a few things to teach him after all. "Go." He heard his sensei declare again and this time he and the blonde ran with renewed determination.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke who gave him a smirk. "Distract, I'll grab. This requires teamwork." The blonde nodded. "We lacked that last time." Naruto mused lightly before he bounded off to buy Sasuke some time.

Kakashi saw their little discussion before releasing a few shuriken aimed at Naruto who'd pounced on him. Quickly after he'd thrown the sharp stars, Kakashi jumped up to avoid Sasuke's hand that whipped out from behind him; reaching for the bells.

Naruto let out a few curses when he landed heavily, sporting a few scratches that were bleeding slightly. He wiped the blood off his face and cast a hopeful look at Sasuke who returned the gaze with a shake of his head, holding out his empty hand to indicate that he hadn't been successful. The blonde whipped his head to the sky, hoping to still see Kakashi there, but was disappointed when he spotted nothing. "The old man has gone off." He grumbled, kicking the ground.

Kakashi who'd been in the air a few moments ago landed a few meters away from them, on a tree. He raised his hand to form a seal and out came a dozen shadow clones, each with their own set of bells; they made a tinkling sound when each bunshin moved. "Hide your chakra and scatter. Stick to the trees as much as possible." Kakashi said before disappearing once again.

Sasuke's eyes roamed the training grounds. Where could the copy-nin be? Or an even better question, _how _were they going to take a pair of bells from Kakashi while withholding most of their abilities aside from Taijutsu? His eyes narrowed. He was fast even without the aid of chakra, but Kakashi was still a tough one to catch.

Naruto tapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "I see him." He pointed at a figure standing on a tree. Sasuke eyed the man and scowled; a few cursed threatening to tumble out of his mouth. He and Naruto were relying on a small amount of chakra, if Kakashi planned to keep to the trees, they'd run out of chakra quicker than expected. Sasuke saw Naruto jerk forward towards the tree; Sasuke's hand flew to Naruto's shirt, pulling at it so the blonde stumbled back. "He's trying to lower our chakra even further." He told Naruto.

The blonde gave him a confused look and asked him to elaborate while shrugging free of the Uchiha's grip. "He's keeping to the trees, knowing full well that it will take chakra for us to travel from tree to tree."

Naruto shrugged. "So? It doesn't take much."

"What makes you think we'll get him at our first try?" They were clearly going to have to jump around a lot before getting to the copy-nin; the man was slippery. Not to mention they'd have to use chakra to land a blow strong enough to knock him out which they probably will try to do frequently; if they missed it would be another waste of chakra. Sasuke cursed.

_Damn _was Kakashi smart.

"The little chakra we have to land lethal blows will be wasted on attempts to get to where he is." Naruto mumbled acknowledging Sasuke's important piece of information. The inner gears of his mind turning as he thought of ways to turn the situation around, his search however, came to an abrupt halt—there was no way around it. They'd have to go to him if they were to progress through the exercise; they couldn't just sit here like ducks.

"Teme, unless we can draw him to us, we have no choice." Sasuke closed his eyes and weighed the risks. The blonde also had a point; unless they managed to draw him out and come to them, they were forced to be dictated by the only option Kakashi left them with, "I'll take the trees, you stay below me." He heard Naruto say. "I have more chakra at my disposal, save yours." With that Naruto ran toward the trees and jumped up.

There had to be something they could use to make Kakashi come at them Sasuke thought as he flashed forward to stand below the tree branch Naruto was crouching on. His obsidian eyes squinted; trying to avoid the glare that pierced through the trees as he watched the blonde lithely jump onto the branch their sensei was on.

The kyuubi-host aimed a kick to the copy-nin's legs but had to twist around to avoid the kunai that slashed at him. Dropping down, he aimed for his sensei's legs again; sideswiping him with a swing of his legs. Kakashi had no time to block the kick and toppled over. Naruto grinned at his triumph and made to grab the bells when the man before him disappeared with a faint _poof_. The blonde's mouth went slightly agape as he scrambled to his feet to look around the forest.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He'd released shadow clones! "I don't know how many there are." He heard his friend call from atop the branch. "What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. "Count the chakra signatures."

The blonde glared at him. He wasn't stupid; sensing chakra was second nature to him. "I'm not incompetent, teme. I _can't find_ their chakra signatures" he spat, his heated gaze roaming the entire vicinity. Sasuke glared back up at him and tried to comprehend the situation. Not only were they going to waste chakra attempting to reach and land blows on Kakashi, but they were also wasting it on his shadow clones—and they didn't know how many there were.

"Ideas?" Naruto asked. Sasuke sighed. "Manual tracking."

* * *

The office was silent when the younger blonde woman walked in. Tsunade was seated at her desk with her right turned head on her palm. She seemed to be deep in thought and hadn't noticed the Yamanaka come in until the young woman coughed lightly to break the Godaime out of her reverie.

Tsunade woke with a start and slid her amber eyes to Ino who sat down, a folder on her lap. The Hokage groaned; more paper work. "Hand it over." She grumbled stretching her hand out for Ino to hand over the folder.

Once she was handed the file, Tsunade quickly flipped it open and scanned the details of Sasuke's first session. "He doesn't display any remorse about anything?" her eyes glanced up at Ino before returning to the paper she was reading. "Not even his killing sprees, but what do we expect? Uchiha Sasuke is… Uchiha Sasuke."

"Like I said on the file, no remorse about anything but those two events."

* * *

"Clone three." Naruto hollered, dropping down from the higher branch he was on. "Teme, we need to end this quick, my chakra is dwindling."

Sasuke punched another clone on the face and watched it disappear the minute his fist made contact with its nose. "Clone four." He murmured, checking his chakra reserves—he wasn't doing so well chakra wise either. He checked the position of the sun; he'd left Ino's office at nine am. It was now twelve noon and the blazing sun was bearing down on them making their test a lot harder—plus they were starving.

Just when he was about to answer Naruto, a fist darted from his side. He blocked it with his forearm and kicked the assailant; his foot made contact with Kakashi's shoulder and Sasuke smirked when he didn't disappear. It was the real one this time.

Not bothering to yell for assistance, Sasuke used the last of his chakra to add to his lightning speed; throwing multiple punches and kicks at his sensei until he suddenly felt his energy leave him; his attacks ceased and Sasuke had his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He felt something cold press to his throat and looked up to see Kakashi holding a kunai to his neck. "Reckless." He muttered to the Uchiha. "Naruto your team mate is 'dead' you guys fail."

The blonde dropped from atop the trees and crossed his arms over his chest. This test never got any easier. "Training is over for now. Go get some lunch, be back at two. And bring your game." Kakashi said lazily before doing a series of hand seals and disappearing.

"We kind of sucked." Naruto muttered, sitting next to Sasuke who'd positioned himself in squatting position the moment Kakashi left. The Uchiha fixed him with a glare that screamed 'Gee, you think?'

* * *

Ino stared at the notebook in front of her for a few tense seconds before flipping over the page and reading the sentences written in her neat spindly handwriting. _"Gray is for regret." _She heard her mentor's voice echo in her head as she browsed through her notes.

Uchiha Sasuke, despite his remorseless views on his actions, more specifically his killings, wasn't quite the heartless rogue ninja that people painted him to be. He hid them well, but the sole Uchiha survivor did regret some things; and he felt the weight of those memories on his shoulders every single day of his life. "Gray is for regret" she uttered quietly, remembering the memory that stayed in the Uchiha's mind all this time.

_"Sakura, Thank you." _

* * *

AAAANDD We're done here. Pretty long cause I might not be able to update quickly this month. Guys I'm nervous for my exam. =(

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW.**

**REVIEW and Get BETTER chapters from me. Reviews = inspiration. **

**PS: Anybody into Pierce The Veil? If you guys are attending Spring Fever Tour, let's talk =) hahaha**

**Sorry for any typos. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Decided to bring my laptop to ballet and type parts of the story while I wait for my class. Pretty good idea, yeah? Uhm not so much…we're not allowed to do this and my teacher is giving me the evil eye. **

**I typed this by part during my short breaks. **

**By the way, thank you for wishing me luck and being understanding. My exams are really close and I seriously hope that I'm improving.**

**XXX**

**THANKS TO MY CONSTANT REVIEWERS (I like to think of you guys as my friends, seeing as I see your names so often and by how much encouragement you give me ), NEWER ONES. Your reviews fuel my ingenuity. **

**Silent followers: I know you're there. Hahaha I love you guys too. Review some time, yes? **

**READ AND REVIEW, Guys =)**

Chapter 5: Exhaustion

* * *

Ino looked up to see a grumpy looking Sakura enter her office with a dramatic flourish before dragging a chair back, making Ino flinch at the sound of wood getting scraped, and slamming her butt down. "You're some sort of therapist, right?" Sakura barked in an unladylike manner, using her chin to gesture towards Ino; throwing her head back slightly.

At the rosette's blunt remark, Ino stiffened and threw her friend a glare. "Psychoanalyst." She corrected patiently. "Whatever—a therapist." Sakura stated in an uncaring tone, clearly not bothered by her friend's fierce glare. Ino grit her teeth before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Yes, a therapist." She grumbled. When were people ever going to learn that being a psychoanalyst entailed more than just being a therapist? Did they think Ibiki was _just_ a therapist? No. But she, his student, had been reduced to a mere therapist? Biting back a nasty insult that threatened to bubble from her mouth, the blonde observed Sakura with a calculated gaze.

The girl looked distressed and wasn't even trying to hide it; her shoulders were tensed, as was her jaw. And the way she gripped the armrests showed how she itched to just punch something. Sakura met Ino's eyes. "I need you to make me feel better." She whined. "Tsunade's been throwing so much work at me, Naruto hasn't paid me a visit once since my return from my mission and Kakashi's a no-show."

Sakura was at the end of her patience. "Do you people want me around or what?!" Because by the looks of things, it seemed that no one wanted to hang out with her. Like, a_t all. _Ino smiled in understanding before closing her notebook. Sakura didn't need a therapist, she needed a friend. "Am I overreacting or something?" her troubled friend asked nervously, biting her lip as she assessed her own situation.

"I know what you mean, Sak." Ino said reassuringly and giving the unhappy ninja before her a small smile to prove that she did understand what she was going through; which was true. She, herself, was experiencing something like this. Her team mates were pretty busy and with Sakura in ANBU, Ino barely did anything fun. Plus, it was one of those slower months during the year; she was pretty sure everyone felt like this. Ino explained this to Sakura and immediately saw a drastic change in the girl's features.

"Yeah, you do have a point. It's July only, I'm sure it'll get a lot more busy soon." She mused hopefully, giving her blonde friend a grin. "So—

Ino's eyes darted to the clock quickly before returning to Sakura. She was having an early-evening session with Sasuke and was sure that he'd be arriving soon. It was Sasuke after all and he was all about punctuality. Sakura's eyes narrowed at Ino's change of façade, crossing her arms while letting out a puff of air. "Please don't tell me—

"Sorry, Sak but I'm busy. I'll talk to you later, ok?" came the blonde's rushed sentence, standing and walking over to Sakura's seat to usher her out. Sakura stood up after much of Ino's incessant prodding and was halfway to the door when she turned around sharply to glare at her purple-clad friend. "You're doing the exact same thing _they're_ doing to me!" Albeit, gentler but still rushed.

Ino ignored her friend's exclamation and pushed her; although trying not to make it look like she was kicking her out—she was failing at it though. Sakura was reverting back to her former cross mood from earlier with each shove to the door she received from the blonde. Ino yanked the door open and made to push her out. "Like you said, it's only July. It'll get busier soon."

This time, her words made no difference to the rosette's disposition and Sakura hardened herself so Ino couldn't push her. The rosette slammed the door close. "Don't bother. I'll leave from here." She spat, Sakura didn't like feeling as if she were being kicked out. At least poofing out of the room gave her a sense of comfort that she was leaving at her own accord and was not hastily dismissed; a petty thing to think because she was oh-so-clearly getting kicked out, but that was all she could to prevent herself from dampening her already sour mood

"C'mon Sak—Sakura finished her hand seals and disappeared out of the room before Ino could get her full name out. "..kura." the blonde finished lamely, looking at the spot her friend had been standing on a few seconds ago. With a defeated sigh, the psychoanalyst slowly walked back behind her desk and slumped down on her plush seat.

"Her memories may be altered but damn Sakura's still Sakura."

* * *

"Watch out!"

"S-Sorry, I-I—Just get out of her way!"

A few more apologies and bows were given to a raging young woman with pink hair as pedestrians continued to bump into her. Of course their feeble apologies were ignored by the rampaging female who continued to dart through the street, making passers-by stumble and trip over their own feet to avoid her in fear of her wrath.

"I can't believe this." She grumbled to herself, raking a hand through her pink hair and glaring at the ground. It wasn't as if she was desperate for company. She could very much handle solitude with grace. It was how people were treating her—dismissing her so rudely—that irked her.

After making a couple of turns, Sakura found herself in the quieter part of the village and immediately, she felt a little bit better. The distance from the crowd seemed to quiet her rage as she walked on, feeling a tad calmer than a few minutes ago.

Her brisk strides slowed into a casual walk though maintaining its air of purpose. Sakura began to take in her quaint surroundings; she'd reached the part of the village that wasn't occupied by much houses—it was a known shortcut for her and her friends in case they wanted to avoid the villagers that tended to slow their paces.

To her right was the beginnings of a forest; trees and shrubs littered the place, giving it a secluded air. The forest was the complete opposition to what was on her left; a few apartment buildings and stores arranged in a strip-like manner; their lights casting a faint yellowish glow onto the ground she walked on, her shadow differentiated in size as she walked—depending on each window she passed and how much light it radiated.

Sakura's bright green eyes playfully watched her shadow dance along the ground and widened slightly; startled when another shadow sprouted just in front of her own. Steadily, her gaze followed the shadow to its owner. Surely it would be someone she knew—not much people travelled here at night. The shadow looked masculine. She presumed it belonged to a tall male and immediately, the ANBU officer ran a mental checklist of all the tall Shinobi she knew.

She had just finished her list when her gaze finally landed on the Shinobi. Well she was right; he was indeed a _he_ and he was tall but she didn't exactly know him. "Uchiha." She greeted, heightening her senses and precautions—this was the guy who slammed her into a jagged wall, after all; upping her guards was the most normal route to take.

In all honesty, Sakura, in the deepest recesses of her mind, was hoping that he'd react to seeing her in one way or another. There was this slight tinge of anticipation that maybe the young Uchiha would shake her up and start interrogating her again, just like he did before, or maybe use that, admittedly, demeaning glare that could turn anyone's spine to ice at just one glance. She didn't know exactly as to why she, in her right mind, would want any form of interaction with this recently pardoned criminal—let alone be semi-attacked and questioned.

* * *

It was a tiring day—that, he had to admit to himself, though it pained him to do so. Uchiha Sasuke had participated during a war and, in his own way, had won. Yesterday, his former, now current, sensei had given them a bell test. Today was no different—in more ways than one; Kakashi gave the bell test again and both he and Naruto failed…_again_. Somehow his victory over the war seemed rather small.

After their failed attempt at the bells, Kakashi had them spend the next few hours running laps as punishment and after the relentless jogging, had him and Naruto spar with each other—_blind folded. _He had to give Kakashi some props, the man really did amp up his training; because really what more could you teach two almost-legends? How could you possibly hone Shinobi that were already trained by so many, taught so much, and were practiced in many ways of combat?

Well, somehow, Kakashi had managed to see through all those achievements and was able to pinpoint the weak spots.

"_What if one of your senses was taken away during a fight?" _Kakashi asked them earlier, to which he'd answered. "_Heighten the rest." _Of course he was right and when the copy-nin nodded he'd gloated, mentally, and thought he'd one-upped the man.

Then said man smashed that bubbled of pride.

"_Yes, that is the obvious thing to do." _The older man handed out two thick pieces of cloth that were folded to a point wherein they would function as a blindfold; at that moment Sasuke knew they were in for another form of training that would be fucking difficult. "_Now let's put it to the test, shall we?"_

Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if one day, Kakashi would show up to training with a pair of wooden stilts that were to be attached to their feet and have him and Naruto spar with each other. At the rate they were going it was highly possible.

Well in retrospect, the man was doing his job well; but still the level of difficulty his training presented itself with had Sasuke feeling like a half-dead vegetable after their sessions. All he wanted to do was go home, which was Naruto's place at the moment, and just lay on the couch for a good ten hours before rising in the morning to do the routine all over again.

But no, he couldn't do that just yet. No— he still had to have a psychoanalyst poke into his mind and let her test his emotional stability to make sure that he hadn't suffered any mental cracks from the onslaught of revelations he'd received from so many people over the past few years. With a sigh of resignation, the Uchiha walked faster.

The young man's pace never slowed; he wasn't one to marvel at the scenery—point A to point B, that was all that occupied his mind. Little things in between, like views and sceneries, were of no importance.

Up until he caught a pop of pink—then he just stopped entirely. His dark eyes watched as the young woman ceased her petty form of entertainment and slowly bring her gaze to meet his own slightly shocked one. Sasuke caught a look of what could very well be expectance from the girl's expression and had he not known her memories of him were taken away, he would've thought that the girl before him was awaiting some form of interaction with him.

Or at the very least a little change in facial expression. But Sasuke couldn't afford to let his curiosity get the better of him; not this time. And so, without further hesitation on his part, the Uchiha walked on ahead, his sleeve slightly brushing her bare arm as he darted past her.

* * *

Sakura's eyes were never as wide as they were right now. Why was she so shocked, she didn't know. Was it because the Uchiha said nothing—did nothing? It wasn't like they were friends; he didn't need to acknowledge her at all. So why was she standing there all disappointed over the fact that absolutely nothing transpired between the two of them moments ago?

The ANBU officer glanced behind her to watch the retreating back of the former missing-nin. She stared at his spiky black hair that shone at the parts where the moonlight hit; giving him an almost unearthly aura because, honestly, no one could look that good. To think she was just gazing at his back.

Quickly turning back, Sakura decided that her need for a bed was more important than a mysterious missing-nin. Slowly, her feet began to drag her body forward, slightly absent-minded; her previous state of mind flew out the window the moment she looked into Uchiha Sasuke's deep apathetic onyx eyes.

Sakura shook her head of the weird thoughts and her journey home continued once more, but this time with a headache that threatened to split her skull at its sheer intensity. She must've been more tired than she thought.

* * *

Ino heard her door creak open and slam shut; the sheer force of impact caused a few of her framed pictures to jiggle a little on their hooks. The blonde quickly looked up, assuming it was her pink-haired friend ready to strangle her with a wire but was greeted with an icy glare that only a certain person could do.

"You made it." She stated lightly, gesturing to a seat in front of her. "Sit. So we can begin." Sasuke, not too gently, pulled the chair back; making its legs scrape against the wood, much like what Sakura did. Ino groaned inwardly at the sorry state of her wooden floors. "_Lift._ Don't drag." She groaned, her voice sounding pained as she eyed the faint white lines on the floor that resulted from the constant scraping it received on a daily basis by frustrated patients.

Sasuke sat down harshly and crossed his arms; a frown tugged at his mouth as he did so. "Everyone seems to be cranky today, eh?" Ino commented, trying her hardest to avert her eyes from her abused floor and failing terribly. Wooden floors were expensive and repair work was difficult.

With one final glance at the floor, Ino forced herself to meet Sasuke's heated gaze and lock on to the dark onyx pools. "You're looking rather pissed today. Care to tell me about your day?"

"No." he quipped before shutting his mouth and slumping a little into the chair's backrest. Ino rolled her eyes at his refusal and reached for her notebook for her notes. "Refuses to talk; in a state of isolation." She recited while writing it down. Once she'd finished writing, she looked up and smiled. "The longer you stay in this stage, the more delayed out progress will be."

Sasuke scoffed. As if he cared about his emotional progress. As far as he was concerned, this was all just to humor the Hokage. Ino, sensing his lack of regard to the importance of these sessions, dropped the 'calm doctor' façade and took to a more militant demeanour. "Uchiha, this isn't just about getting in touch with your emotions—because we all _know_ that you'll never show them. These sessions are to make sure you're not going to _kill_ anyone who pisses you off or betray the village if things go your way. We need to be sure that you can control yourself."

Ino stared into his eyes with a hard expression. It was time he knew exactly what they were assessing. If he were to show any indication of possible defect later on, the Hokage would have no choice to either try to adjust his behaviour or strip him of his abilities to be a shinobi; the latter would be worse than death, even for Ino.

"Until I see that your mental well-being is fine, you will be stuck with me for a long time and your missions, should you be allowed to have any, will not go above C. Do you understand? I'm not just trying to ask why you went crazy. I'm going to find out why, how, what triggers it and if it will happen again. And to do that I need your cooperation," Ino let out a breath. "Now, I will repeat myself, how was your day?"

Sasuke looked at her with a slightly amused glint in his eyes. "Terrible." He answered quietly before clamping his mouth shut once more. The girl in front of him sighed. It wasn't much but it was something and something was better that flat-out nothing especially if it was Uchiha Sasuke.

"Terrible enough to make you want to kill someone?" she asked, pen at the ready. Sasuke thought over her question at the same time imagining running a chidori right through his sensei before disregarding the image. "No." he answered calmly.

The female nodded and wrote down more observations "We're going to start every session like this. I ask you about your day, then we start with my planned out approach. We'll start with your past; resolve any lingering issues then proceed to the present. Understood?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. What was this; an organized way of intruding his privacy? Was anything allowed to be just his? He watched Ino open a folder that held charts and spotted his name amongst many scribbles about his mental welfare.—yeah _nothing _was ever going to be just his. Ino was going to divulge everything and, being a man that never really regarded his emotions, Sasuke wasn't just scared about what Ino would find out; he was dreading what h_e_ would come to realize.

"..ke?" The blonde glared at Sasuke's slightly dazed look. "Uchiha. Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?" she'd spent the past few minutes asking him questions of his brother's death; a sensitive topic but a key to unlocking Uchiha Sasuke's mental gates. She watched Sasuke blink back to the presence and open his mouth to answer her question.

"No."

It took all her will power not to bash her head against the table. Here she was, giving her best; adapting to her patient—making sure to adjust her tactics to suit _him_ and all he was giving her was one-worded answers? Groaning a little at the prospect of _her_ needing therapy after a client like Sasuke, Ino tiredly shut her notebook and put down her pen; looking Sasuke dead in the eyes. "I said, how do you feel about your brother's death?"

The Uchiha couldn't help but let out a snort of disbelief at the question. His brother who turned out wasn't the devil Sasuke thought he was, died in front of him; trying to protect him but not telling him anything. How did she expect him to feel? Elated?

He was over this—forced to move on because of the war. Yet, he still felt a little anger sparking at the thought of the incident; he just couldn't place the anger anymore. It was just there, subtle and lingering; tormenting him daily as he lived his life.

"Mad." He answered curtly, his tone hard at the stupid question the girl had posed.

Ino nodded and continued to gently prod her client. "At who, what—where is your anger directed at?" the blonde's question filled the room with its intensity; the inquiry harbouring a great deal of gravity and pressure towards the young Uchiha who now seemed rigid.

Who was he mad at? Wasn't it obvious? Itachi; for not telling him anything, for fucking dying on him and another is Madara who fed him wrong information; using him. His slack hands began to grip the armrests, causing a few splinters to arise from the harsh grip.

Anger began seeping from his emotional wall as he pictured the two men that ultimately led to the whirlwind of a life he'd lived. He pictured them clearly, trying to assess where the anger that had begun to pool inside him was going to be directed at most. Itachi? Madara?

Sasuke's shoulders had tensed before they slumped down. His eyes were masked by his long strands of dark hair; shielding the emotions they held from the onlooker at the opposite side of the table. "Me," he said quietly, hoping that Ino heard his answer-he wasn't going to say it again.

* * *

Ino silently watched the turmoil Sasuke was having within himself at her inquiry. She had no doubt that a few Uchihas were popping up in his mind right now; she just needed the right one to come up for them to make progress.

Itachi's actions have long been affecting Sasuke and his death was surely a factor in the younger Uchiha's rage; but Sasuke's issues involving his brother had ultimately quieted down after the war; the sole survivor had come to terms with his anger; he was stable—very much so, in terms of his feelings over his brother. It had taken him years to resolve this issue but after Ino's little visit into his head, she'd learned that none of the hostility he still harboured was directed at Itachi.

His anger for Madara, however, was easily quenched by the death that Sasuke had brought upon with the help of Naruto. Slight bitterness was felt, then again everyone has bitter feelings about everything. What Ino needed Sasuke to come to terms with was Sasuke's anger at himself.

He was pretty much a walking time-bomb of unacknowledged self-loathing. And though she was sure of him not defecting from the village, it was hard to predict what Sasuke would push himself to do to finally get the closure he badly needed.

"Yes, Sasuke." Ino said gently. "The issue here is your anger towards yourself." She looked at Sasuke with a comforting gaze. "You don't regret the choices you've made, well just a few anyway, but you do feel mad at yourself. Why?"

"Control. I lost control." He said, his tone a mixture of shock and realization when he finally realized what has been eating himself up even after the war; it was the fact that he _let _his control slip—gave it to someone else to play with.

Sasuke looked up at Ino at last, his eyes intense. "I never get things right." But there was something more, something besides anger that was bottled inside of him.

"You're return to Konoha, what did you feel when you came back?" Sasuke's eyes dropped again and Ino waited patiently for his answer. "That I finally honoured my brother."

"There's your start Sasuke." Ino smiled, offering him a small smile. "You're start to get things right." She opened her notebook but threw Sasuke a glance. "I'll just take some notes, ok?" he needed a little room to breathe and she was giving him a little break before getting back to the session.

Sasuke jumped on the offer of a break quickly and nodded, slumping back a little into his chair and resting his chin on his fist. This was why he chose to just shut out all prospects of analysing emotions; it was tiring and only gave him confusion as opposed to clarity. In all honesty, training with Kakashi seemed a walk in the park compared to mental torture he was experiencing just by trying to pinpoint a single emotion.

Ino's scribbling came to a stop and Sasuke bade his break goodbye and braced himself for another onslaught of emotional exploration. Couldn't she just tap into his head again? This would be so much easier if she just looked for the answers herself.

"The point of this is to help _you _realize things, Uchiha. If I tap simply break into your thoughts, that'll just give _me _information on you, it won't help you resolve any issues." Sasuke gave her a questioning glare. How did she know what he was thinking? Was she still in his head?

"I've been at this for a long time, I know what my clients are thinking. 'Why not just see for yourself and enter my mind'" she quoted before cracking a grin. "Okay, let's get back." She prompted, shutting her notebook once more for another round of questioning.

"Besides anger, what else do you feel right now—it can be positive or negative." She would have to monitor his feelings throughout their sessions to see if there was improvement in his disposition. Ino was never one to second-guess any of her patients but sometimes, out of habit, she braces herself for answers that she would predict. In this case, she expected Sasuke to say: 'Annoyed or nothing'—something along those categories.

Sasuke, surprisingly, didn't take too long to answer.

* * *

That feeling he felt earlier began to wiggle its way to his brain and Sasuke held on to that feeling and tried to finally label that annoying twinge. It didn't take him as long as he did earlier though; this one came out a lot easier—he was used to this feeling; it's been there since he was a kid.

It was an awkward feeling, saying it out loud. It seemed more real—tangible and not just something only he could feel in his head. He never really said this out loud; it was probably a given fact, after all.

Sasuke's dark eyes looked straight into Ino's and opened his mouth to answer her question.

"Alone."

* * *

**THANKS FOR READING.**

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW**

** .REVIEW.**

**I THRIVE ON REVIEWS. (You guys get better chapters, anyway. So it's a WIN-WIN)**

**Guys….I busted my left hip abductor =( and my right is taking a lot of stress too. I'm in Physical Therapy. But I'm still dancing. Pray I get better? **

**PS: If you don't like my therapy scenes or if you think they don't make sense, I'm am 17 and I do NOT know how these things work. Ok? I'm trying here, really hard. All the therapy I've ever done was on my best friends who have crappy relationships so EASYYY….In all honesty, I think it makes sense. =))) **

Also, one person asked how to converse with me and stuff. You can PM me (that's what it's for, yeah?) or well, I'm on twitter so… if you want it just tell me. :D

LATE NIGHT CHAPTER: sorry for typos.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello my darlings! Hahaha here is my first update for April. =) officially 18 more days until my exam. PRAY FOR ME FOR I AM FEELING JITTERY. OMG. **

**Reviewers: You have no idea how much these reviews mean to me. Seriously, keep 'em coming.**

**Thanks for the support and alerts guys! =)**

**Read and Review**

Chapter 6: Slow Cracks

* * *

_Red._ That was all she could see; blurry _red_ circles that muddled her mind and made her restless. Annoying little blobs of agony they were. They had no distinct attributes that could help her place what they were—nothing but the bright red tint. And though she tried her hardest to focus her eyes, the object—objects rather, still remained fuzzy and blurred.

She clumsily reached out to touch the unknown vision, surely she'd be able to distinguish what the hell it was if she felt it in her hands. Slowly, her hand neared the red blur, her fingers itching to examine the mystery object; she was close—so very…close.

And just as she was about to make contact, a blindingly sharp pain seared all over her head; its intensity so strong that she the blurry visage before her began to slowly fade and before she knew it, there was nothing but darkness. Gone were the red objects—there was nothing left but the blinding, searing pain.

"Aagh!" Sakura yelled in pain, clutching her head with both her hands as she jolted out of bed, slouching forward as she tried to subdue her cries of pain. What was going on? These headaches were getting more and more intense. The first one was during her walk home last week and ever since then, she'd been getting them every single day at sporadic hours; it was a nightmare, to say the least.

Wiping a bead of sweat away, Sakura swung her legs off the side of the bed relishing the feel of the cool floor before putting her head on her hands. "Ugh. It's been the same damn dream too." She grumbled to herself before getting up, to get ready for her day.

* * *

After a quick shower and a thorough brushing of her teeth, Sakura padded into her room to put on her outfit that she'd laid out on the bed before heading to the bathroom. She put on her black fitted shorts, a red tank top with her clan symbol etched at the back and a black mesh top. Sakura had long traded in her Chinese looking top and pink skirt for this outfit, she needed a change up her attire; a new beginning after the war. Plus, it was summer and she had no intentions of suffering under the sun's cruel rays.

After putting on her clothes, Sakura began to wrap bandages around the exposed parts of her thighs and stopped wrapping before it reached her knees. Her green eyes slid to her shelf that housed some of her medical and weapons pouches, she pondered whether she'd be needing those today and opted to grab just weapons pouch and a small medic kit. Sakura pulled her hair into a high ponytail, letting her bangs hang down to frame her face and securing the hairstyle with a rubber band. "Breakfast." She muttered to herself, feeling her stomach grumble slightly at the thought of food.

The young woman walked to the kitchen and pulled open her refrigerator in hopes of finding a decent thing to eat this early in the morning. She hoped to find some leftovers so she wouldn't have to cook, because well, she just didn't feel like it. Her eyes roamed the fridge before she came to a conclusion: She wouldn't be cooking anything and neither would she be eating. The fridge was empty except for a small bottle of sake that stood in one of the shelves, looking lonely and pathetic.

Sakura's stomach grumbled again. "Ah, shit." She complained. It was six in the morning and she'd have to go to the grocery? Was there even one that was opened so early in the day? She sincerely hoped so, this was a ninja village after all, and ninjas needed supplies to be ready at any hour of the day and night. If there wasn't one, then she'd have to settle for waking up Naruto and choke down a couple of instant ramen.

She shuddered at the thought of having to force down instant ramen, her motivation for her search of a grocery renewed. She even considered heading to the market in case her search for a grocery doesn't end well; it may take a little more time than shopping in a grocery, but it was better than coming home empty handed.

And so with determination oozing out of her being, Sakura put on her shin-high ninja sandals, grabbed her wallet and half-jogged out the door.

* * *

Sakura's head whipped to and fro as she walked down the quiet streets at a brisk pace. All around her, the village was slowly awakening from its slumber. She could see curtains being drawn and hear food being cooked. The sounds of life echoed and resonated throughout the streets; a different sound wafting up to Sakura's ears for every building she passed. Yet, none of the shops were open save for Ino's flower shop. Despite the early morning business, the village still wasn't fully awake.

With another glance at the sun to check the time, Sakura gave herself fifteen more minutes of searching before she was to head to the market. She increased her pace a little bit as she grew more and more desperate. She was getting hungry and cranky.

"No stores open at this hour, what if ninjas had to go get last minute supplies for missions?! Shishou will hear about this!" she exclaimed in frustration. Well she did have a point. Experienced they may be, but unlikely circumstances do occur every once in a while that required even the most trained ninja to need a store open at the wee hours of the morning.

Her light footsteps came to a halt when she found what she was looking for. A row of shops, that were open. So the village did have those twenty-four hour shops. Sakura sighed in relief and walked into a small grocery. The bells on the door chimed when she pushed it open and Sakura was greeted with a kind smile by the cashier girl. "Good Morning!" she called out at Sakura who returned the smile and waved before grabbing a basket and briskly walking towards the many shelves that held her salvation.

Food was now an optimal necessity and she was going to get it. The young ANBU officer walked around the brightly lit aisles and began piling things into the basket that she carried on the crook of her right arm. She didn't bother checking labels and nutrition facts, she was desperate; she even threw in a couple of instant beef ramen just for precautionary measures. "Do I want apple juice?" she thought to herself while glancing around the juice shelf.

Yes, she did. She wanted apple juice. Sakura walked up to the shelf and stared at the carton that was placed way above her reaching capacity. Why would they make shelves this high anyway? It was a major inconvenience to vertically challenged people like herself, although in her defence, she wasn't _that_ short—or maybe she was in denial.

"Fucking shelf is too damn high." (or she was to short) but Sakura tossed the thought aside quickly. Her green eyes focused on the prettily packaged apple juice before she released a sigh. Looks like she won't be having apple juice after all—she didn't really need apple juice in her life.

And then suddenly, she was staring at the blasted carton that was literally shoved in her face. "Here." She heard the stranger say. Sakura looked up and nearly gaped at the person who'd just done her a favour.

There in front of her, still holding the carton aloft, was Uchiha Sasuke with a basket in hand. Her mind began whirling, causing her features to contort a little bit before she hid her shock. "Thank you, Uchiha-san." She mumbled quietly, grabbing the cardboard package and stuffing it into her quickly filling grocery basket. The Uchiha shrugged at her thanks before turning around to continue with his early morning shopping.

_RED. _Sakura swayed a little at the onslaught of color that clouded her mind and the brief zing of pain that came with it. "Tomatoes!" she blurted loudly, making Sasuke turn slightly and give her a questioning stare at the mention of his favourite fruit. "Excuse me?"

Shocked at her sudden outburst, Sakura's cheeks colored a little. "Tomatoes are over there." She stated lamely pointing towards the produce section.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her. "How'd you know I was looking for them?"

"Lucky guess?" she answered, mostly trying to convince herself that it was indeed a coincidence and that the weird situation had absolutely nothing to do with herself and the Uchiha. But why did she find out what that strange blur was only when the aforementioned person popped up? And why the fuck was it a tomato?

* * *

Sasuke picked up a tomato and examined the red fruit. Once he was sure that its condition hit his meticulous standards, he gently put it into a flimsy plastic bag and began to pick and examine some more. "So you found the tomatoes, eh?" a voice piped up from behind him a second before Naruto stood beside him. "I didn't know you knew where they were." The blonde said, pointing towards the huge container of fruit.

"Got directions." Sasuke's answer shocked Naruto. Did Uchiha Sasuke just a_sk_ for directions just for tomatoes? The young man didn't even want help during training; turning away every hand offered by Naruto whenever he fell—Sasuke just didn't want help unless he direly needed it.

Sasuke turned to Naruto and looked him straight in the eyes. "I need your help."

Naruto's blue eyes clouded with confusion. Oh, this couldn't be good.

* * *

After finally having a decent breakfast, Sakura was set for the day. She bounded out the door and skipped down the steps, her mood a few notches higher than it was earlier in the day. Food had that effect on people.

Sakura decided to take advantage of the slow day she was given. Tsunade must've seen the fatigue in her eyes and had laid off some of the hospital work that Sakura had to do; about time she did too. Multiple back to back surgeries and ANBU duties had her tiredly crawling back home late at night for some much needed sleep only to repeat the same gruelling tasks the next day.

From the looks of all the procedures she's done, Sakura was sure that they'd run out of people to operate on. Thank goodness for that. She needed time to just sit back and maybe socialize a little, even if it was just for a few days.

The rosette took in a deep breath and let the warm air caress her face. It was summer and the weather was already starting to get a little too warm. All around her, the village looked bright and sharp as the sun's rays glowered down on Konoha. Children were begging their parents for something cold while the teens could be heard yelling about heading to the beach to cool off. Sakura quietly envied their free time and walked on, not really knowing where to go.

As she ambled aimlessly through a sea of people the usual kimonos and civilian outfits, Sakura spotted a young man in orange and black. "Naruto?" she called out, pushing past a few bystanders to get to her friend. "Sakura?" the blonde replied, stopping in the middle of the road to wait for her to reach him.

"Oh so you remember my name?" Sakura chided in annoyance, crossing her arms as she glared at the sheepish kyuubi host. "I've been busy?" he offered lamely and when Sakura's glare only intensified, he switched tactics. "Kakashi's been working me to death!" Naruto exclaimed, clutching his chest dramatically to push his point further.

Sakura scoffed. Like s_he _was taking it easy, Tsunade hurled her at every complicated procedure and still expected her to have enough strength for either training with her or a short spar with another ANBU. "Oh, please. You think I have it easy, Uzumaki? At least you aren't being treated like a social outcast!"

"Whoa, now. Who's the social outcast?" came a deep but playful voice from behind Sakura. "Ohohoho! The Prodigal Medic." Kakashi joked, putting a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Ditched ANBU to join our ranks?"

The young rosette glared at her former sensei. "You're making it sound like joining ANBU was a bad thing." She grumbled, turning up her nose. Kakashi patted her shoulder and dropped his hand. "Nah, I'm glad you joined. I'm just working to get this brat off my hands then I'll be free." Naruto turned a little red at the insult. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

The silver-haired ninja looked at him lazily. "Exactly what you thought it meant." He countered.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the commotion the two were causing. She missed this; the interaction, training—_them. _Sakura missed her team. "You guys too busy for me or do I get to spend some time with you?"

"I can spare a little time for a traitor, you?" Kakashi addressed Naruto who grinned wildly. "Only if she buys me ramen." The two looked at her expectantly and Sakura could do nothing but sigh, reaching into her pocket to pull out her wallet. "I don't hear from you two for a week, and I'm buying you food. Show me the justice in this?" Sakura grumbled as she let herself be led to the small ramen stall by a very enthusiastic Naruto, followed by a chuckling Kakashi who'd finally pulled out his book of porn.

"Naruto-kun!" Ayame greeted when they reached the stand. "Sakura-san, Kakashi-san!" she added when the two came to sit next to Naruto who was already browsing the menu for what he wanted. Team seven had forged a bond with the people who ran Ichiraku and were basically good friends; thus the first-name references and personal jokes exchanged.

"Where's the old man?" Naruto asked, grinning at Ayame. "Out in the market, buying more ingredients." She answered. "The market's the best place to get the freshest ingredients! And here in Ichiraku, we only use fresh stuff."

"No need to advertise, Ayame-chan." Naruto joked. "We already know that." Sakura let out a laugh before apologizing to a blushing Ayame for Naruto's little joke. "Feel free to spit in his soup, Ayame." Sakura suggested, giving the woman a wink before trailing her eyes back to Naruto; daring him to say anything else.

Kakashi's eye slid from Sakura to Naruto as he marvelled at how much the two stayed the same despite how grown up they were and the major things the two have been through. It was as if the past had melded themselves into the present; refusing to be forgotten. The way they bickered, laughed and fought—it was still the same in a way that was different. Change was a very confusing thing, indeed.

Although it felt familiar, Kakashi felt that it was somewhat off. He looked at Sakura again, watching her punch Naruto as a small blush crept up her cheeks. Something would always be off—_always. _ Because Sakura wouldn't remember the things he, Naruto would; all the missions, laughs, heartbreaks. She had a different past. And he could see it in Naruto's eyes that he felt it too; the slight sadness.

Kakashi pushed his little philosophical ramble out of his head. It wasn't exactly a good sign (to him, anyway). Wisdom and Philosophy came with age and he wasn't ready to be labelled 'Wise Old Man Kakashi' yet. "Would you two brats order, or will I have to do it?" he muttered quietly, leaning his elbow on the counter and putting his head on the palm of his hand.

Sakura glared at her former sensei and huffed. "Miso, Beef and a Vegetarian one." She dictated to Ayame who wrote everything down and went to work on their orders. "Going vegetarian, Sakura?" Kakashi asked with mild shock. His student grinned at him and answered. "'Course not! That one's for you—you don't eat enough vegetables, so I've heard." She explained, casually poking his arm. "It's not good for an aging man to scrimp on the nutrients." Sakura smirked at her finisher and stuck her tongue out at Kakashi.

"Ah, the age joke." That was a nice finishing blow, he had to admit. "Did I mention how glad I was to have only to brats two deal with now?"

* * *

"Uchiha Sasuke, quit being a brat will you?" Ino grumbled, waving a pen at his face as she continued with her rambling. "I'm trying to help you here! Did I not make this clear to you a week ago?!" she threw her pen down on to the table and glared fiercely at the stoic man sitting in front of her; clearly not affected by her short circuiting.

"For the last time… How. Was. Your. Day?" Ino bit out every single word in hopes that Sasuke would get the message and just spill it out. The Uchiha smirked but complied. "It was good." He answered, surprising Ino and himself as well.

"Well, I'm glad one of us is having a good one." She muttered to herself while ripping her notebook open. "Continue." She prodded, her pen poised to take notes of his brief story. "I said it was good." Sasuke repeated, this time, with annoyance lacing his voice.

Ino threw down her pen again. "That's all you're going to give me, really?"

Sasuke shrugged. "It's still early, what do you expect to happen, from my waking to this time in the morning?" It was a brilliant comeback, really. Nothing less from an Uchiha; and he had a point too, she admitted to herself quietly.

Round one: Uchiha: 1 Ino: 0

"Plan B." she stated quietly before doing a series of handseals quickly and entering the mind of one shocked Uchiha Sasuke.

_Naruto pushed Sasuke off the couch and laughed a little when the Uchiha groaned at the impact with the cold floor. "Teme! We're going shopping for food. Get up!" Sasuke glared at the menace in orange but complied with the order and got up to dress himself._

_FLASH_

_The blonde had gone off with the cart and he was left wandering the grocery alone; looking like an idiot. He began trying to find something worthwhile and suddenly a certain fruit came to mind. "Tomatoes." Sasuke said to himself as he trudged down countless aisles looking for the fruit that he loved so much._

_FLASH_

_Pink. There was a sudden flash of pink in his vision and the frustrated Uchiha twirled just in time to see a familiar face that was scrunched up in annoyance while glaring at the carton of apple juice that stood at the highest part of the shelf._

_FLASH_

_A blushing Sakura muttering a small thank you._

_FLASH_

_Tomatoes._

_FLASH_

_A small request_

* * *

Ino exited his mind, the intrusion was shorter than the first, which relieved the Uchiha. She must've just scanned his recent memories. "So you've had a pretty good day so far, eh? That's good." Ino said, taking down notes as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, suspiciously eyeing her from his end. One could never be too with women like Ino; they were always reading into things too much and assuming such incredulous facts.

She looked at him innocently. "Tomatoes, you bought tomatoes." she lied as she wrote down one more thing before closing her little notebook; it read: '**Silver Flare when he saw Sakura.' **she didn't exactly know how to handle this new fact, but she was willing to see this play out. For all they knew, this could be Sasuke's saving grace and maybe, just maybe, even Sakura's, though she may not exactly know it.

"It's not going to work, you know." Ino said gently. "Sakura won't remember you, Sasuke." Tsunade was never clumsy with her work, she would make sure that Sakura wouldn't remember anything; even though it pained the Hokage to do so, she had to make the seals strong.

"Hn." Sasuke answered in defiance.

* * *

Sasuke arrived home after his therapy session feeling a little tired. Mental examination was quite a workout. He walked over to the couch and let himself fall into the seat. "Teme, you're back." Naruto said as he came out of the bedroom.

"About your request." The blonde started, taking a seat next to the Uchiha and looking at his slumped form. Hearing the seriousness in the usually upbeat blonde's voice, Sasuke readied himself for an argument and an onslaught of negative comments about the strange request he'd made earlier.

"I don't think it's a good idea. Tsunade did it for a reason." Sasuke scoffed at the remark and straightened his back. Since when did Naruto abide by the rules? "You've defied her before." He said monotonously. This earned a growl from the blonde seated next to him. "This is her psychological welfare we're talking about, teme! Do you really want to risk it?!" he bellowed, the intensity of his anger bubbling more and more with every thought of Sasuke's selfish plan.

Sasuke stood up abruptly. All he wanted Naruto to do was try and prod Sakura's surfacing memories of him a little more just so he wasn't a total stranger to her. That was all he wanted but apparently it wasn't in the cards for him. So fine, he'd drop it. What's the point in pursuing a useless endeavour when everyone was clearly against it.

Naruto watched his teammate walk out of the living room, into the bedroom and slam the door. "I guess it's my turn to take the couch tonight." The blonde mumbled to himself, getting up and straightening his clothes. He chucked one more glance at the closed bedroom door before striding to the front door purposefully and exiting the apartment.

He had to find Kakashi.

* * *

Sakura wandered around the village and suddenly got the urge to visit Naruto and maybe help him clear up his apartment which was probably filthy by now. The boy never did like cleaning anything. She chuckled at a distant memory of Naruto drinking spoiled milk due to the lack of diligence in cleaning out the fridge.

And so there she was standing in front of a familiar front door when a panicking Naruto barged out and rammed into her. Sakura stumbled back from the force and fell on her butt. "Is your house on fire, Uzumaki?!" she yelled in annoyance, grabbing that hand he offered to help her up with and squeezing it until his fingers turned blue.

"Ouch! Sakura-chan! Let go, let go let go!" he whined. Sakura ignored his pleas and squeezed harder one more time before showing mercy, letting her hand fall limp at her side. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" She asked, peeking inside to check if there was indeed a fire. Her green eyes trailed back to Naruto who'd gotten up from his butt and was dusting himself off. "I ran out of ramen." He said, giving himself a mental pat on the back for the smooth lie.

"Oh. Hey, I'll shop with you!" Sakura offered, grabbing his hand and dragging him down the stairs, giving him just enough time to shut the door frantically before letting himself get pulled.

Sakura and Naruto weaved past the sea of people and got to the grocery. The cool air from inside soothed the two ninjas who'd been out in the heat all day. "Good to see you again, Uzumaki-san!" One of the attendants greeted while waving at Naruto. "You too, Haruno-san."

The two responded with a smile before grabbing a basket and walking to the ramen aisle. On the way to the aforementioned section, the two passed the produce and Sakura glanced at a few juicy and ripe—

"Tomatoes." Sakura said out loud. Naruto looked at her. "What about them?" he asked half-heartedly while looking through the countless selections of ramen. He'd already gone through them earlier in the morning but he actually needed to look like he was choosing to back up his story. "Does it have anything to do with Sasuke?"

Naruto froze a little; shivers ran down his spine. "What made you make the connection?" he asked causally, gripping the package of instant ramen too tightly.

Sakura shrugged and played with a strand of her hair. "I've been thinking about them a lot and when I saw him it was as if I hit a home run or something." She glanced at him. "Do you know what I mean?" In all honesty, even listening to her explain things made even Sakura think _she_ was crazy. Thinking about a red blob and finally realizing what it was because of a former missing-nin handing her apple juice wasn't exactly a picture of sane. She even made a connection between the two.

Boy, was she out of it today.

Naruto put two packages of instant ramen in to the basket all the while thinking of an answer to Sakura's little ramble when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up and saw a sheepish looking Sakura. "Heh, you know what? Nevermind. Forget what I said." She grinned before eyeing his cart. "Now let's get something nutritious to balance out the shit you eat."

He really had to get to Kakashi right now but Naruto didn't want to arouse suspicion so he decided to go along. They barely each other anyway and it was nice to just sort of hang out even if he did just see her a few hours ago.

"Sakura, I get by find with the 'shit' I eat." He complained as he looked at the cabbage with distaste. "How am I supposed to eat this?!" he grumbled, waving the head of cabbage at Sakura before throwing it back into the basket.

"Oh hush, Uzumaki." Sakura chastised before whacking him on the head. "I'm serious, if you don't eat these vegetables; I will burn your stash of instant ramen." The blonde only laughed before muttering an agreement while glaring at the young woman in front of him.

* * *

Inside the room, Sasuke glared at a picture of a grinning Sakura who was flanked by Naruto and Sai. She drove him insane when she knew him and even when her memories of him had been wiped clean, she still annoyed him to know end. He didn't know why he wanted to be acknowledged so badly—it wasn't him to want attention.

With a huge huff, he fell on to the bed and draped an arm over his eyes. "Stupid." He said to himself. That whole request was stupid. _"Just feed her enough information to know who I am to her." _Sasuke grit his teeth at the memory that flooded his mind. The Uchiha lifted his arm an dropped to his side, he let his head loll to the right to face the modified Team Seven picture. "Weak" he said to a smiling, twelve year old, Sakura. If she had been a little bit stronger, she wouldn't have needed a memory alteration.

And with a violent swing of his arm, Sasuke knocked the picture out of the nightstand and watched it fall to the ground, waiting for the sound of glass shattering and when the sound reached his ears, he rolled on to his front and tried his hardest to fall asleep.

On the ground, the picture frame that housed the picture of the iconic team seven, minus one, laid in a such a pathetic state; chips of glass littered its surrounding area and one big crack had formed right in the middle of Sakura's whole head.

* * *

**THANKS FOR READING**

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW.**

**REVIEW**

**PS: There will be a time skip (A few months) coming because well, the story unfolds in a quite a span of time. OH and the SASUSAKU will be gradual because I'm trying to be realistic here. Plus, heads up: There will be unconventional couples because it strengthens the plot. (It doesn't mean that I like the pairing. Remember this plot is pure SASUSAKU.)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I feel like absolute shit right now. It's been a rough few weeks so, sorry for the delay. I'm still pretty out of it but writing is therapy, so after a night of intense drama… Here it is. PS: I miss my laptop**

**Read and Review, Guys**

**Thanks for the reviews and subscriptions! They fuel my fire! Keep 'em up, guys. THANK YOU SO MUCH. **

Chapter 7: Sleep is for the Weak

* * *

It was a little crowded inside Yamanka Ino's office. Ino had just arrived and was still between sleepy and awake when two bickering males in her office surprised her the minute she walked in. Her rounded eyes stared at the males in front of her as she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that they were here at this time.

She was going to fire her secretary.

Ino's gaze slid from one person to another. There, standing before her, in her quaint little office, we two grown shinobi glaring daggers at each other. She set the book she planned on reading earlier down and rubbed her temples. What exactly was she? A therapist, peacemaker…Emotional punching bag? Someone needed to send her a memo because she was beginning to doubt what profession she was actually in. No one mentioned playing peacemaker for brat spats when she was trained under Ibiki to be a psychoanalyst.

She was just about to kick them out when Naruto piped up quickly; stopping her from saying anything. "Ino, consider us patients. Listen."

Irritation swelled in her chest at the blonde's blunt statement but the young woman sighed and walked to her desk in the slowest pace possible, to annoy them, and sat down with a groan before looking up at them—patience masking any trace of hostility.

"What is it?" she asked as calmly as possible, trying to shake the slight tremble of irritation off of her voice. Naruto looked at her with disdain and jabbed a thumb towards Sasuke's direction. "I thought you were supposed to deal with him? Why is he still an arrogant bastard?"

At Naruto's heated answer, Ino raised her eyebrow. What, did they barge in just to tell her she wasn't doing a good job? Her eyebrow twitched. Someone was asking for a kunai or two up his ass.

"I don't work miracles." She taunted. Her job wasn't to change people in the first place; it was to help them go through life and get better at it, well as good as a human can be at life anyway. Because even she still had her training wheels on.

Her blue eyes drifted to Sasuke's lithe form and travelled up to his handsome and now, annoyed face. "Dobe, so I broke a picture frame. Get over it." Ino heard the Uchiha say.

The male blonde next to him crossed his arms and grumbled. "It wasn't just any frame! It was my Team Seven frame and the picture got all crumpled." Naruto complained loud enough for the Hokage to hear.

Ino's jaw nearly hit the desk when Naruto blurted out the reason of their untimely visit. "Whoa, whoa—wait a sec… _That_ was why you barged in here and demanded to talk to me despite my full schedule of appointments?!" Were they insane? She stopped herself for a moment marvel at her thought. It was Naruto and Sasuke she was talking to, _of course_ they were insane.

_But a picture frame? _

"It isn't even the real thing." Sasuke growled before he roughly slid his seat back and walked to the door, slamming it as he left the room.

_"It's not even the real thing…."_ His voice replayed over and over again in the psychoanalyst's mind, with each repetition, a different theory would slide into her mind as to why the Uchiha survivor would be so hostile over an argument about a broken picture frame.

"I don't even know when he broke it." Naruto said thoughtfully earning a slight eyebrow raise from Ino. "What do you mean?"

The Kyuubi host shrugged. "It was missing for a few weeks." Naruto said calmly. "I figured Kakashi lost his and wanted to make a copy but…" he trailed off.

"It's been months since I've last seen it and I was starting to wonder where it went, so I decided to finally clean the place." Ino silently prayed to Kami-sama for the last part. Naruto was never one to clean his apartment until he ran out of people to bunk with.

There was a tense silence between the two blondes as Naruto continued with his story.

" Then I found it near Teme's things all banged up and… Yeah." He finished with a sigh.

Ino, who'd been listening intently nodded and made a mental note to bring up this predicament with Sasuke during their next meeting together. "Ok, don't mention this to him again until I can figure it out with him, okay? Sasuke is still struggling with untapped emotions that's been pent up for years." Her baby blue eyes took on a serious look.

"If you push him too far, he'll end up closing up again. And that's something he can't do if he wants to be reinstated as a part of Konoha."

Ino tapped her fingers quietly. "The Hokage wants to be sure that he is no longer harboring anything that could possibly make him snap."

Naruto remained quiet. "Fair enough." He said quietly.

Ino smiled gently and patted Naruto's hand. "I'll handle it." She said reassuringly before she broke out into a malicious grin, giving Naruto chills from his neck down to his toes.

"So, do I send you the bill or would you like to pay up front?"

Naruto tumbled off his chair and onto the hardwood floors, bumping his head on one of the table's edges. Ino winced at the sick sound of his head meeting the table "What?! Why am I paying you?!" he yelled, rubbing his head and getting up to glare at her.

The other blonde flashed her pearly whites at the shocked Shinobi in front of her. "You consulted me in my office, as a therapist, did you not? Only Uchiha has free sessions."

The young man crossed his arms over his chest. Feeling insulted that Ino was charging him for one short appointment regarding _her current _patient. It was absurd and…Well she was Ino. "Oi, we consulted you as a friend."

Ino smiled. "Really now?" She asked him in a chastising tone. She put a finger to her chin and tapped it, pretending to think "I remember you saying something along the lines of 'Ino, we're here as patients. Now listen." Her mirth-filled baby blues held Naruto's annoyed gaze. "Or something like that… I don't really remember."

The self-declared Hokage in training, glared at Ino for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "Send the bill." He grumbled before standing to take his leave. Ino gave him a wide smile. "You just sponsored my Friday night out in the town with the girls. Thanks, Uzumaki!" she teased, as she got up to walk him out the door.

The male rolled his eyes and bid his friend goodbye. "Oh! And Naruto?" Ino called out last minute, stopping Naruto midstep

Naruto turned around eagerly, praying and hoping with all his strength that she was going to claim that it was a joke; that she wasn't really going to charge him. "I charge extra for walk-in patients."

Ino was nicer as a florist.

* * *

Sakura yawned as she shifted the papers that were attached to the chart holder, glancing at the patient every now and then as she read through his paperwork. "What exactly did you eat in Suna?" she asked the sick looking shinobi who looked like he was going to hurl in any second. The young medic made sure she had enough space behind her in case the patient decided to blow chunks.

"Some mushrooms…" he answered queasily, clutching his stomach as it growled painfully. Sakura winced and wrote down it down in his chart. "Did they happen to be…purple?" she asked in a calm manner, hiding the strain of held back laughter from her voice. After all, how a ninja of his caliber fell into a bout of food poisoning was rather funny.

Sensing her laughter despite Sakura's attempts to hide it, the male Shinobi glared daggers at Sakura who began writing doses of medicine for the nurses to give. "Isn't it funny how it's always you who seems to get poisoned?" the medic asked the brooding patient before her who looked like he'd very much wanted to rip her head off.

But she was feeling gutsy today, so she teased the poor ninja even more. "Really, Kankuro, you've got to be more careful." She scolded, putting a hand on his forehead to check if his fever was starting to sweat out.

The brunette rolled his eyes and met her emerald orbs. "I know you've been wanting to laugh since you've read my chart. Go ahead. Let it out." He said glumly.

Sakura bit her lip to hide her grin. "I'm a professional, Kankuro. I don't laugh at my patients.." she looked at him holding his stomach with a pained look on his face. "No matter how absurdly stupid their reason for being admitted is."

Kankuro threw her a playful dirty look. "So you do think it was stupid."

Sakura drew back and put her hands on her hips. "You _live_ in Suna and you were poisoned from one of the _most common_ non-edible fungus found in _Suna_. Tell me if that doesn't sound stupid." She challenged as she began packing away her things and setting them on the metal tray on a cart near his bed.

"Don't tell the nurses that." He pleaded. Sakura looked up from chart. "Tell them what?" she asked him innocently to mock him while she put the chart back in its holder attached to the foot of the bed.

Kankuro coughed. " That I practically fell prey to his country's natural defense system against foreign intruders."

"See, told you it was stupid."

The brunette sighed and settled himself in a more comfortable position on the bed; his arms were behind his head which was tilted up slightly as he stared at the ceiling. "Well, the room ain't so bad. Guess I'll take a break from being rushed over here by my brother."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Kankuro said that he had an option about staying in the hospital or not— he didn't. "You have no choice, you're staying here whether you want to or not." The young medic ordered sternly. Besides, you have a bathroom here, it'll be more convenient in case you—

Kankuro glared at her and dared her to finish her sentence.

"… In case you have to release the…toxins." Sakura stammered out. The brunette grinned and threw her a thumbs-up. "Nice save."

Sakura curtseyed playfully and decided to voice out a question regarding the sand-nin's sudden visit. "If you don't mind me asking, why're you—

"KANKURO!" the door banged open; hitting the wall with a loud _thud_, a string of tiny cracks sprung and spread through the wall that the door hit. Sakura swallowed hard and stepped away from the raging Sand kunoichi that had one hand on the fan strapped on her back.

"What did I tell you about those fucking mushrooms?!" she yelled as she stomped in, slamming the abused door shut and walking towards the bed.

"Te-Temari! It's good to see you." Sakura greeted from the foot of Kankuro's bed. The patient gave her a 'What do you mean NICE?!' look which she responded to with an uneasy smile and wave.

At Sakura's greeting, Temari turned to her and smiled, any indication of bloodlust completely wiped from her face and demeanor as soon as she acknowledged the ANBU officer and medic. "Haruno-san! Good to see you too! How are things?"

Kankuro gaped at his sister's surprising switch of emotion. What was she—bipolar?

The rosette's eye twitched as she plastered on a smile. "Heh…Great. Y'know the usual…"

Temari nodded and glared back at her brother. "Ah yes…The usual stupid ninjas who get admitted due to stupidity. For example: diarrhea from a _fucking mushroom._" She looked at Kankuro with a murderous glint in her eyes.

The brunette gulped.

"Sak, if you keep her in here, diarrhea won't be the only thing you'll be treating me for." Kankuro stated in panic as he watched his hostile sister near him.

The blonde female snorted. "She won't be treating you for anything…you'd be _dead._" She threatened as she plopped down on one of the chairs.

"Like you'd kill your own brother."

Sakura smirked and got ready to leave the siblings to mull things over. "It's been done." She said darkly with an eerie smile aimed at Kankuro who glared at her. "Not helping, Sakura."

Temari giggled. "I like you, Haruno." She said from her seat as she waved once towards Sakura before the medic closed the door.

Once the medic left, Kankuro's gaze drifted to his sister. "So, do I prepare myself to be smothered by a pillow or can I ask how the meeting went?"

The woman on the couch drummed her fingers on the soft cushion. "He really is back." Temari's eyes met her brother's and held his gaze. "Uchiha Sasuke is back."

* * *

Tsunade heard a knock on her door and called for whoever was there to come in. Her tired amber eyes watched the form of Yamanaka Ino walk in and stride over to a seat before the Hokage's heavy wood desk.

"We'll have to make this quick, Yamanaka. I've called for a meeting with Uzumaki and Hatake. Other villages are already hearing about the return of the Uchiha." She stopped to take a breath. "I've just met with the ambassador of Suna."

Ino's ears perked up as she laid the files on the table. "How did it go?" she asked quietly and waited for the Hokage to gather her thoughts.

Tsunades's deep voice echoed throughout the room. "I told her, he's being watched and analyzed; that it was likely that he would not be a liability." Her stern gaze enveloped Ino. "So I better hope your report is promising."

Ino took the older woman's silence as a signal to start her report. "So far, from the six months I've been with him, he's shown signs of cooperation and development. He's let go of any hostile feelings towards the village and is coping with the sadness from losing a sibling very well."

The young kunoichi showed Tsuande her notes and waited patiently as she read through them, tapping her foot nervously as the Hokage's eyes scanned the small notebook full of notes from her sessions with Sasuke.

"Go on, Yamanka." Tsunade said while reading. Ino straightened and nodded. "He feels as if he's finally honored his brother by returning but still doesn't seem to feel completely at ease with himself. Sasuke feels no regret but for killing his brother…"

Ino stopped talking and twisted her hands nervously. "There's also the matter of Sakura." At the mention of her student, Tsunade raised an elegant eyebrow. "Oh…and?"

The Hokage's tone was hard to decipher but Ino pressed on. "I think… I think he needs to at least be able to talk to her. We've been working on his suppressed emotions and are doing well but he still remains somewhat sad, despite him not showing or mentioning it." It was true, Sasuke had a lot to deal with but with every session they had, Ino began to realize that he had everything set, he'd moved on and was doing well. And yet, even through his improvement he still had a dark cloud hanging over him.

And she had a feeling Sakura played a big part of that cloud.

"They shou—

Tsunade thought it time to stop the young kunoichi. "That's enough, Yamanaka." She had no time for another debate session regarding the handling of Sakura and Sasuke's interaction. "Is he or is he not volatile?"

Ino huffed. "No, but he still has something eating him up—

The hokage rubbed her eyes. "Yamanaka, is he going to go against this village again?" she asked with a tone of steel that chilled Ino's spine. "No." she said in reply.

The busty woman nodded. "Good. Discussion over—that's all I needed to hear. Continue with the assigned procedure until I say you can finish the sessions."

Ino knew that this was Tsunade dismissing her but somehow, she found enough defiance to contradict the Hokage once more. Sasuke still wasn't happy. Happy in a sense that everything was fine, everyone knew that Uchihas were stoic but there was a difference between stoic and unhappy. Though, Sasuke has shown a lighter demeanor, the sole survivor still wasn't fully happy.

And he deserved to be happy.

"Sasuke isn't happy. I know it has something to do with Sakura. Just let them—

"His happiness does not outweigh the fragility of the situation, Yamanaka. You know that. I'm just glad I know that he won't defect again. Don't play God." Ino glared at Tsunade. "You sure I'm the one you should be saying that to?"

Amber eyes met blue ones. "You're dismissed, Yamanaka." The addressed female gathered her things and stalked out of the room with an aura of defiance.

The Hokage watched the door close and took a swig of sake, 'Tch. Using my words against me." She grumbled while taking another swig. "I don't have a choice." Tsunade slurred ungracefully as she wiped the sake from her lips. At this point, she had no choice but to try to control the situation.

She rotated her chair to face the huge open window behind her and gazed out into the town. Why was everbody making her look like the bad guy? The woman's gaze landed to her white porcelain sake bottle. "You're my only friend." She said, holding her bottle up and admiring it. "But you make me feel like shit in the morning… " And with that, she chugged down the rest of the sake.

She sighed. "I make people feel like shit….but it's for their own good." She rambled. "Ah shit…I'm a bottle of sake."

* * *

It was dawn when Kakashi found Tsunade passed out on her desk with, what looked like, fourteen empty sake bottles strewn all over her table. "I'm finally on time for a meeting and I get this as a thanks." He mumbled to himself while he cleared the table and cleaned up some of the spilled sake.

"Hatake…" Tsunade grumbled as she began to wake from her sake induced sleep. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes and looked at Kakashi warily. "Gaara wants to know how the Uchiha is doing." She said incredulously. "Can you believe it? _Suna_ is getting involved. If the leader of Rain comes, I'm declaring a fucking war." She complained.

As if having a newly returned rogue ninja that had previously wanted to destroy the village and the people who lived in it wasn't already bad enough. Well take that, and add leaders of the surrounding nations sending representatives to make sure a person of his caliber and psychological standig doesn't go starting trouble again.

"That's the alcohol talking." Kakashi said as he quietly took a seat. His eye regarded the weary Hokage with a hint of sympathy; it was hard making tough decisions and having to put up with the aftereffects of those choices. "What of Sasuke and Sakura?" Kakashi asked, not going into details with his question—Tsunade would get it.

A strangled groan started at the back of the Hokage's throat; it sounded like a snore. Kakashi would've thought she'd fallen asleep if not for the sudden jerk of her head upwards so she could meet his gaze.

"Handle it."

She didn't go into detail either but she knew that he'd understand what she meant—and he did. The copy-nin stood quickly and bowed before doing a series of seals and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Sasuke didn't return home that night, in fact, the sky was beginning to bleed red from the sunrise and he still had not gone home. The sole Uchiha survivor found himself wandering the many forests of Konoha; he'd walked all over the damned forest and had ended up in the team seven training ground, staring at the three tree stumps.

He didn't mean to end up here—Sasuke just needed to walk and wallow in his thoughts so he could put himself together to face people again without wanting to shove a kunai down their throats. Guess the violent side of him would never wash out; it was just too ingrained in him as an Uchiha. However, he had remained in control of things; seeing rationality and reason more clearly unlike before, he'd have to give Ino some credit; maybe the sessions were a bit helpful.

The brooding shinobi stared at the iconic stumps as washed up memories resurfaced and played in his mind like a black and white movie without any sounds. A dark smirk crossed his features as he walked away.

Sakura always had been a bother, even with all the training she's gotten and even when she herself didn't even know him anymore. It wasn't like it was _her _specifically he was worried about. It was more of him being offended by being wiped clean from her fucking memory. He came back thinking he'd get things as close to normal as possible.

He knew of the probation, but it would lift soon and he'd be able to live like he used to but with Sakura's memory, he'd have to play a game It wasn't normal at all; it wasn't like home.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes at his estranged teammate and walked on further, with no destination in mind.

The cool wind soothed his whirling head as he passed through crooked trees and huge rock formations that still had kunais and shuriken still embedded on them. Sasuke mused with the thought of adding one more and with one swift movement, he slid a kunai out of a pouch and casually threw it at the rock with a lot more force than necessary.

It whizzed and hit the rock. Everything remained still while Sasuke continued his stroll, paying no heed when the rock crumbled from the sheer force he used to throw the kunai. It was better than hitting a person.

As the Uchiha pushed forward, the trees began to thin out into shrubs and bushes. And soon, the cloudless sky was now more visible, without the branches and leaves obscuring his view of it.

Absentmindedly Sasuke had wandered out of the forest and wound up near the gate, where the benches were.

His eyes caught sight of a specific bench and suddenly a ghost image of a twelve year old Sasuke putting Sakura down on it flashed through his mind; like some sick joke his head was playing on him.

"Hn. Even my head is against me." He grumbled to himself as he walked to the bench and sat down, feeling the cold hard cement on his back as he leaned back to make himself more comfortable.

"Uchiha?" a familiar voice called out from behind him. Sasuke lifted a brow and regarded the figure that neared him with a cool gaze. "Sakura." He acknowledged with a slight tone of surprise.

The rosette looked at him sheepishly. "I…uh come out here to think." Why would she come out to this bench specifically? Sasuke's eyebrow rose even higher and as if reading his mind, Sakura piped up. "It just feels so familiar. I don't know why."

"Aa."

Sakura was clad in a red fitted shirt and black shorts along with her knee-high ninja sandals. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke looked at her and smirked. "It feels familiar."

Sakura rolled her eyes and sat down on the other end and put her feet up on the space between her and the Uchiha. "You better not be planning anything, Uchiha." She warned, giving him a suspicious glance over her knee.

"Hn." He grunted. "If I was, and you caught me, I would've killed you before you could even know it was me."

At this, Sakura's guard went up and her sense hopped into overdrive. "Don't push me, Uchiha."

All Sasuke wanted to do was taunt her; tell her that he's seen her as a genin and even though she'd gained a shit load of power, he'd still be able to put her away if he needed to. But that would require the use of her memories which, he thought bitterly as he looked at her, she did not have.

So he settled for bastard mean instead of inside-joke-kind-of mean. His obsidian orbs looked mockingly into her green orbs. "I'm light years ahead of you. It's _you_ who shouldn't push _me_."

"You're a bastard."

Sasuke simply shrugged. "So I've been told." He smirked at her one more time before getting up and walking away.

Leaving her on the bench he'd left her in seven years ago.

* * *

Sakura watched the Uchiha leave with anger in her eyes despite the thoughts of him looking quite ethereal in the sunrise—he looked just as good as he did in the moonlight she thought. "He'd be more beautiful with a kunai or two stuck in his skull and a few disemboweled limbs." She grumbled to herself while she continued to watch him disappear into the town.

Her pink locks danced in the air when a cool wind blew; she relished the icy air and let it calm her nerves down. She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ears and gazed at the pinkish sky. She still had trouble sleeping—if it wasn't a splitting headache, she'd see flashes of light bursting and she'd wake up feeling woozy and confused.

She diagnosed the weird occurrences as part of PMS but it was far too erratic and it's been going on even when she wasn't bleeding.

"If this is what stress does, I'm asking for more vacation leaves." She said to herself while yawning and stretching her arms. Her thoughts wandered back to the rude shinobi who left her only moments ago.

What was eating him? She wondered. He seemed so moody and easily ticked off; she was expecting a witty and cool retort from him with her mild threat but he went off like a land mine with pent up force. She looked off at the direction Sasuke disappeared to and decided to let his outburst slide.

He probably had a rough day and needed a punching bag. Sakura settled back onto the backrest and closed her eyes. "Although, the next time he decides to take it out on me, I'll punch him all the way to Suna."

* * *

Sasuke arrived in Naruto's apartment with only one thing in mind: sleep. The walk had served him well but he was awake the whole night and needed some shuteye if he wanted to be normal for today. An hour or two would do him fine.

But when he entered the apartment, he was greeted by three males all gathered near the coffee table, looking at a map of Konoha.

"He's probably her—Teme! You're back!" Naruto yelled, jumping out of his seat and dragging the tired shinobi towards the group. "We've been up all night trying to locate you. Where the hell did you wander off to?"

The dark-haired shinobi shook Naruto's grip off and looked at the other two. "Nara. Kakashi."

"Kakashi-_sensei_." The silver haired nin corrected again. "Really, Sasuke. Get used to it." The said boy glowered at him from where he stood, making Shikamaru sigh. "Yare, Yare… Since everything seems fine, I'm going to leave." He grumbled in annoyance at their botched 'retrieval' mission. He told the blonde idiot that Sasuke would be back, but the latter insisted they form a group and find Sasuke instead.

"Kaka-sensei, Naruto." Shikamaru waved and looked at Sasuke. "Uchiha." Said young man nodded a goodbye to the brunette and watched him leave the apartment.

Naruto shoved Sasuke on the shoulder and sat down next to Kakashi, glaring at his teammate who began walling to the bedroom.

Kakashi raised a hidden eyebrow and held up a hand to stop Sasuke from leaving. "What are you doing?" he asked the already miffed prodigy who'd stiffened. With a slight tilt of his head, Naruto echoed his sensei's question. "Yeah, why are you heading to the room?"

Sasuke's finger nails dug into his palms as he balled his fists. "I'm going to sleep." He answered icily and made to move forward when he felt a strong tug at the back of his shirt and was dragged away. "What the hell?" he growled as he struggled against Naruto's grip.

Kakashi's grinning face was startling close. "We're training today, Sasuke. Didn't you get my memo?" his sensei asked innocently. "I left one here earlier last night."

"I didn't come home, you idiot." Was Sasuke's response.

The copy-nin feigned surprise. "Oh, yes… That's right. Too bad then." The older man gave Sasuke a dark look. "I'm sure you'll come out of this one alive."

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW. **

**REVIEW. REVIEW.**

**Done and done. Oh and to answer many questions about the unconventional couples: I can't tell you or it will ruin the story. Don't worry though, you won't endure them long like I said, it's just for the depth of the plot. **

**I miss my laptop OMG =( but it's still unpacked so I have to use the PC with a huge-ass screen that makes my eye balls feel like they're in a fryer. **

**THANKS FOR THE WELL WISHES DURING THE EXAMS~ my hip is better too…not fully healed but better. **

**And wow….I do feel better after writing. UGH. Life is just so whacked out sometimes..**


	8. Chapter 8

Make up…Off! Pajamas and hoodie, ON! Yes. It's time to write.

Ok, I know I went on a little 'shock rampage' about Sasuke wanting to become Hokage. But, I see where he's coming from and I guess he has a valid reason. I just find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that someone besides Naruto would try so hard to become Hokage…

**Thank you for the reviews. I read them before writing another chapter and it makes me want to do so much better for the next update. So please, continue =)**

Chapter 8: Second First Introduction

* * *

In the early morning, Konoha was peaceful and serene. No one would've ever thought that such destruction had ever taken place recently in such a calm and happy village. Somehow, after the war, despite being in complete shambles and ruin, the village had picked itself up and began a new circle of life; restoring itself to its former glory.

Though not everything was completely the same, some people were still trying to fix what the war had damaged like some of the craters that littered the earth over in the forests, aftermaths of strong and wrecking jutsus; both from the enemy and allies as they fought for their lives in the, now legendary, ninja war.

Yet, the Hokage herself had mentioned that she would like to keep some of the entrails of the war—keep them as a reminder of lessons learned the hard way and of the lives sacrificed to ensure the future of the village; memoirs to those who had fought fiercely and bravely.

Because some things weren't meant to be forgotten, some things had to stay ingrained in one's memory.

Sakura blinked rapidly, her eyes finally focusing on the things around her after what seemed like an hour of staring off into space, her mind entering a weird state between present and away. She chided herself lightly for her faulty presence of mind; it was unlike her to be so unfocused—so _distracted_. For these past few months, the young ANBU officer had been quite off her usual mental track.

To her, it was unnerving and frustrating. Though, she'd pull herself together whenever people were around. It was only in fleeting times like these that she allowed herself to be engulfed in senseless thoughts and questions. Wallowing in the depths of her mind, searching for something she didn't exactly know and resurfacing to consciousness only to be more confused than she was before.

But this time with a terrible head ache thrown into the mixture.

With the grace of a well-trained officer, she jumped to her feet and stretched out her limbs, sighing in relief when some of the joints popped, releasing the pressure and relieving her at least a little bit. The rosette slowly began making her way back to the center of the village to see if she had to do anything for the hospital or for the Hokage.

She silently sent a prayer that none would require her assistance for today—Sakura felt like breaking some trees. On a normal day, she'd be required to train with fellow ANBU but right now, she needed to train with a friend—Naruto maybe. After all, she had, in her own way, caught up to him. Gone was the Sakura who had hid behind her team mates while they bled excessively from protecting her.

_"I'm light years ahead of you." _her green eyes hardened at the lingering voice of the former missing-nin. A light smirk crossed her lips and a hand touched the seal on her forehead, she had been the only apprentice to ever master a seal like her master's. A sense of pride welled up inside her and she couldn't help but wonder why she had such a strong urge to prove to Uchiha Sasuke that she was and _is _as capable as they were.

"I was trained by a Sanin too." She grumbled. A sanin wouldn't have gone through the trouble to train her if she was easy picking for another sanin-trained shinobi. It may have taken her a while to get where she was; not as fast as the other two. But here she was, finally at par. And while they too were learning and improving with Kakashi, she was too.

The young kunoichi passed a busy street, hitting a bystander accidentally and murmuring an apology to the miffed young woman in a green yukata who'd looked like she wanted to shove the fan she was holding up Sakura's ass.

Sakura held up her hands and gave the angry civilian a sheepish grin. "Sorry I wasn't—

A cloud of dust bloomed from a few feet away, along with the sound of a skidding mass on the ground, leaving shattered soil and dirt in its wake. Sakura squinted to see what had hit the ground at such an amazing speed and force when an all too familiar voice boomed through the dusty veil; loud and clear. "Oi, teme! What the hell was that for?!"

Naruto's voice pierced through her eardrums and Sakura used her hand to fan away the particles of dirt that were still floating around near her face. She could make out three figures; one was obviously Naruto, leaning on his knees and breathing heavily, though inhaling coarse specks of dust wasn't a good thing, the ever present medic side of Sakura added as her eyes steadily moved to the other two figures.

The dusty mist began to settle down and the ANBU officer could now see the two lean figures of Uchiha Sasuke and her former sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Sasuke was nonchalantly leaning on one leg with his arms crossed over his chest while Kakashi stood erect, scratching his head in his usual 'I-hate-babysitting' fashion.

The girl beside Sakura squealed a little bit when she too had gotten a good look at the trio who'd just caused quite a ruckus so early in the morning and in the busiest street. "Aren't they just _perfect_?" she muttered girlishly, grabbing Sakura's arm and giving it a surprisingly hard squeeze, her previous rage from earlier completely forgotten.

Sakura's eyes rolled. She could think of many reasons to contradict the love struck woman's statement. _Perfect? Yeah right._

Naruto couldn't even clean his apartment.

* * *

Sasuke stumbled on a rock due to Naruto's excessive force, dragging him along like he was some lifeless mass that couldn't walk on his own. Somehow, his foot had hit a rock and suddenly his feet had left the ground.

Thankfully, he'd regained his balance and had straightened up only to see a laughing Naruto and a grinning Kakashi. "How was your trip, teme?" the blonde teased, letting out a few more bouts of laughter before calming down and settling for an obnoxious grin.

"Was it bumpy?" Kakashi added, making the kyuubi host burst out in another fit of laughter. "Good one Kakashi-sensei! Good one!" he laughed and wiped a tear from his eye. The embarrassed Uchiha glared at Naruto before punching him on the shoulder. _Hard._

His team mate had skid a few feet away, leaving trails of cracks and clouds of dust along the way. "Good punch, Sasuke. Orochimaru did have his perks" Kakashi muttered, amused by the unchanging temperament of the dark-haired shinobi. "Hn. I'll send him a note" he said sarcastically.

There had been an eerie silence when everyone stopped what they were doing to examine the commotion that had happened in the middle of such a busy street. The silence had been tense and anxious-filled when Naruto's voice cut through the smoke and called Sasuke out.

"Oi, teme! What the hell was that for?"

Sasuke smirked and walked over to Naruto. "Careful what you step on, dobe." He warned before walking on ahead, leaving Naruto to stare at his back. "That doesn't even make sense!" the blonde explained, lookin at Kakashi who'd stopped next to him.

The older man put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I think he means his pride." He explained and gave his scowling student a reassuring pat. "He should really leave the jokes to us." The blonde stated.

"Don't tell him that. He might just barbeque you and serve you to Choji." Kakashi warned.

"Now _that _was funny." Naruto said with a grin before he and Kakashi took off to catch up with the brooding Uchiha who'd walked on ahead.

* * *

Sakura watched the group leave and head towards the training grounds, they flashed step and took a shortcut, disappearing into a small entrance of the forest that was a few yards from where she stood. Against her better judgement, Sakura concealed her chakra and went to follow to newly reinstated team seven.

She'd entered the foliage and immediately her clear view of the vast sky was obscured by the thick branched trees and their rustling leaves. Beams of sunlight peaked through the small spaces between the leaves, casting shadows on the young ANBU's determined face as she moved forward in hopes of catching the three shinobi.

Sakura knew the forest would expand at the end of the narrow ending; soon she'll be reaching a wide and open clearing that would then lead to different parts of the huge forest. If she didn't get a visual on them soon, she'd have to send a wave of chakra to track their signatures down—and she wasn't in the mood to go on a hunting spree across a wide expanse of trees and shrubs.

Eventually, after stumbling and tripping over roots and vines, she'd caught sight of a black shirt and a head of spiked blonde hair. The ANBU officer almost cried in glee at the black blob that bobbed at a distance—she was starting to think that she'd lost them.

Sakura slowed her pace and moved closer, using the trees and tall bushes to conceal her presence. Slowly, she approached the training ground they trio had chosen and made sure that she was close enough to see and hear what they were doing but far enough for them not to sense her because though her chakra was concealed, shinobi of their calibre were bound to sense her.

* * *

The training ground Kakashi had chosen was unlike the ones they were used to; instead of a clear open space that enabled them to run around and use space freely, this spot of the forest, despite being big, was littered with trees with protruding roots, tall shrubs and beneath them, intricate tangles of vines and stems covered the soil.

A natural obstacle course.

Sasuke was the first to arrive and when he felt the familiar chakra of their sensei enter his radius, he turned to him quickly and gave him a quizzical look. _Clearly _they wouldn't be able to move. If he even would risk to do a chidori here, chances are, he'd lose his footing and eventually fall and slam his face into his own electric filled palm—or _sword _is he decided to use it.

There was one thing to be able to battle in different terrains in case you had to flee but had been followed thus having to hash it out in a difficult landscape. But if one was to train in a god-awful place like this on _purpose_…now that was just pushing it. In a real life situation, the enemy too would have a hard time and will probably try to lead you to an open clearing.

If not, both parties will stumble and fall and eventually die in the hands of nature's own death trap.

"You have got to be kidding." Naruto grumbled, already tripping on a sinewy root that protruded from the earth. It was practically impossible to move here.

Kakashi chucked merrily and stuffed his hand into his pocket to pull out a medium sized scroll. He took hold of one end and slid the parchment down with a quick jerk of his hand downwards. Naruto neared the scroll slowly, careful not to trip, as Kakashi started his explanation.

"It's not training." He met Sasuke's glare with a grin. "It's a mission." Naruto and even Sasuke's eyes seemed to light up with a fire that screamed excitement and competition. Kakashi held up a hand to indicate that he was not finished. "D-rank."

The light that had once sparked into their eyes vanished as quickly as it came. The silver-haired man rolled his eyes. Were they seriously expecting a B-rank mission at the level they were assigned to? They were lucky to even be assigned one seeing as Sasuke had only been back for at least six months.

Naruto grabbed the scroll impatiently from Kakashi. His blue eyes rolling at the theatrics of it all; a _scroll _really? Missions were given in the form of files—scrolls were old school. With a look of annoyance gracing his tan features, Naruto read through the contents, his eyes widening with every single sentence he read.

This was _not _happening.

Half tempted to crumple the damned scroll and half tempted to shove it up his sensei's ass, Naruto made a grumbling sound that started at the back of his throat. He looked up to meet Sasuke's gaze, throwing the mission scroll across the forest for the Uchiha to catch and read.

Naruto turned to Kakashi, his face a picture of complete glumness, his eyes drooping sadly and mouth turned down to a distinct frown. "You love to torture us, ne, Kaka-sensei?" he muttered in defeat, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants and slouching.

The man gave his student a pat on the shoulder. "No, Naruto." His gaze was steady on Naruto's blue eyes. "I _live _for it."

While the two bickered over Kakahi's moral compass, the Uchiha rolled the scroll up and stashed it in his back pocket. A brooding aura overtook him as he walked to his teammate and sensei who were still too caught up in a heated argument to notice his dark demeanour.

"A D-rank mission?" he seethed, grabbing hold of the stupid scroll and shoving it roughly into Kakashi's arms. The silver-haired man's eye crinkled as he grinned, taking the scroll and waving it in front of his students irritated faces. "Now, now…rules are rules. You guys are only genin. You're lucky." The two scoffed and rolled their eyes.

"I nabbed you the most adventurous one."

Naruto grumbled inaudibly and threw an elbow up, resting it on one of Sasuke's shoulders making the Uchiha glare at the blonde. He was _not _something to lean on.

"Want adventurous? Defeating Madara." Naruto boasted. "You mean to tell us that after all we've done, all you can give us is….that?!" he pointed at the scroll that was half concealed in Kakashi's pocket. Now, Naruto wasn't one to be arrogant, unless he was joking, but even Kakashi knew what they were capable of and t_his _mission was a mockery to their skills as a Shinobi.

The older man shrugged and pushed the scroll deeper into his pocket. "Ok, I'll tell Izumu-san that you'd be weeding her lawn after all."

At declaration of the second option, the two young men acted in a blur of motion: Sasuke grabbed the scroll from his sensei's pocket before Kakashi could do anything to stop him, he threw at Naruto who caught it in one fluid movement, sliding it open the moment his fingers closed around the worn-out mission file.

"Alright Teme, let's go."

* * *

Sakura watched the exchange of words amongst the three males who stood a few yards from her well-chosen hiding place near the bushes. They looked to be in a heated argument; tossing a worn out looking scroll back and forth in annoyance. She let out a small breath of laughter before angling herself to get a better view. The plants were tall enough to conceal her presence but weren't as bushy and brambly so she could still train her green eyes on her former team… and their new member.

It was the perfect spot to see and not be seen.

She watched them throw around a scroll and laughed quietly when she saw their reactions. Sasuke looked just about ready to kill his laid-back sensei while Naruto looked as if he was told to kill a fluffy bunny with a spoon and then eat it.

While Sakura mused over the boys' agonized faces and their sensei's weird look in his exposed eye, a weird shadow slowly began to spread across her face, making the chuckling officer zip her mouth tight and coil her muscles. Alarm bells went off in the young ANBU's head while her reflexes started kicking in.

Her once calm face showed a hint of panic as fear crept in slowly, spreading through her whole body like an icy liquid that coated her veins . Sakura sat up from her crouching position with a start. Had she been discovered? Impossible; she'd made sure to be undetectable to chakra sweeps. And when Sakura wanted to be undetectable, she was _undetectable. _Not even a fellow trained ANBU could sense her even if they tried, well not unless they searched manually and looked for tell-tale signs that only a manual search could show.

Impossible was the word. Green eyes narrowed at the thought of being outwitted at such a simple reconnaissance exercise. Was it the Uchiha that had caught her shamelessly spying on them behind the bushes like a genin would? She frowned. In hindsight, maybe the trees would provide her with better cover and vision.

With a self-condescending grumble to herself and the promise of training an extra hour in just chakra concealment, Sakura decided to admit defeat and look up at his cold dark eyes. Maybe she'd mutter out a lame excuse or two, or she'd pretend that she was sent by her mentor to—ah she was screwed. She'd might as well take it like a warrior and not weedle her way out with stupid alibis .

Sakura steeled herself for a smirk and a dry retort. Her green eyes slowly met his inky black—wait a minute.

The rosette let out a gasp.

* * *

"Teme, you were supposed to cover me from behind!" An enraged Naruto yelled as he picked himself off the ground while rubbing his sore back. "You weren't doing the job right." Sasuke said in retaliation, picking up his kunai and giving it a quick rub to wipe away the mud.

"We agreed that you'd cover me!" Naruto jabbed a finger at Sasuke's chest. "And we're not supposed to _kill_ the target. We're supposed to capture it!"

The Uchiha expertly twirled the kunai with his fingers and shoved it back into his pouch. "The target won't be able to run if we injure his legs." He said flatly

Naruto stopped the urge to bash Sasuke's face. He let out an annoyed grunt and proceeded to look around for their target. The two teammates were out in a clearing not far from their usual training grounds; Sasuke was on all fours, looking around a bush—an odd sight to behold; Naruto had to hold back a snicker.

"Dobe, shut up and help me look."

The blonde scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest as he threw a scowl at the crouching Uchiha. "Oh… _Now_ you want to be serious. Naruto took a quick look at a gash on his forearm; it wouldn't have been there if a certain asswipe had covered him as planned.

Sasuke caught Naruto's glare and retaliated with a fiercer one as he stood up. "It's a D-rank mission. What is there to be serious about?" For Shinobi of their calibre, this mission was a fucking Z; and those didn't even exist. The Uchiha walked to Naruto and pointed to the bush he previously stood over.

"The cat scratched you and tore a piece from your shirt, right?" Sasuke asked with a hint of amusement in his deep husky baritone. Naruto looked agitatedly to where his comrade was pointing and muttered a 'yes'

The Uchiha smirked.

"I found a piece of the cloth stuck to the bush." He dangled the piece of black cloth in front of Naruto's face and proceeded to toss it carelessly to the ground. "He went north. We'll split up and use the radio if one of us has the target."

Sasuke's dark eyes bore down on Naruto's blue ones while he waited for the latter to reply.

Naruto shook his head and secured the microphone and radio. "I can't believe we're doing this all for a fucking cat." He grumbled, turning around and disappearing into the foliage of trees and bushes.

Sasuke made to move towards the other direction when a static noise echoed from his radio; Naruto's choppy voice blasted through the mini speakers and reverberated throughout his skull. "The fucking cat did not go North, you bastard. It went south and is now biting my ass!"

The spiky-haired teen ground his teeth and transferred his weight to push himself to the opposite direction; where Naruto was. He pumped a little chakra to flashstep quicker—this mission, if one could even call it that, needed to end soon and the faster he got to where the idiot was, the quicker he was to ending this game.

"Aack! No! Oh, come on these pants were _new!_" Sasuke picked up his teammate's cry of frustration. He leapt over a rock formation and skidded to halt in front of a red-faced Naruto and a small black and furry cat chewing at another ripped piece of cloth courtesy of Naruto's new pair of ninja pants.

Naruto glanced up at Sasuke with such a pained look in his tan face. "You know what… Kill it. Forget what I said earlier. Slash a kunai at this thing!" Sasuke slid his eyes slowly to the small feline that purred in delight. He smirked at Naruto, playful malice blatant in his obsidian orbs. "I kind of like it."

"You're only saying that because it bit me!" Sasuke shrugged and took out a leash which he then attached to the cat's collar. "That too."

The Uchiha threw the red leash at his blonde friend. Naruto, done with his moment of hysteria, caught it joyously and gave it a tug. The cat let out an uncomfortable hiss. "You're in my hands now you little demon." He grinned and tugged at the leash again, igniting another angry hiss from the cat and a bonk in the head from an annoyed Uchiha.

"Cut it out." The latter grumbled, taking the leash from his crazed teammate and sliding his earpiece; that had fallen off, back into his right ear. "Kakashi-sensei." He said into the microphone. "Mission completed."

A poof of smoke popped in front of him. Naruto jumped and let out a string of choice words loud enough to wake the dead. The smoke engulfed them briefly and began to slowly spread through the clearance; fading away as it went.

"Way too dramatic, Kaka-sensei." Naruto mumbled, using his hand to clear away the remaining small clouds of smoke that hung in the air. Kakashi ignored the blonde's babble and turned to Sasuke, he took the cat's red leash and gave each of his students a pat on the head.

"Sakura, you can come out now." Kakashi called, looking at a thickly covered tree. In an instant, before the two younger males could look up, Sakura stood beside Kakashi looking annoyed. "I release for one second and you sense it. What are you made of?" she crossed her arms and pouted. "Although techincally, the cat found me first." she gestured to the black cat that had scared her from the bushes. She'd jumped to a tree in fear of being discovered-because if a cat that couldn't even sense chakra could find her, three well trained ninjas would definitely be able to spot her.

Kakashi's eye crinkled. "Ah, but you're never supposed to release." His tone was aloof and slightly smug to Sakura's ears. The rosette rolled her green eyes and waved him off. "Yeah, yeah I know… I figured you'd be too focused on them to notice my chakra."

"You're forgetting that you're chakra signature is strong too." Sakura blushed at the compliment and turned to Naruto who was trying his hardest to look calm. The former team seven member cocked her head to the side and regarded him with curiosity. "What's up, Naruto?"

A strangled sound came from the back of the blonde's throat. His eyes darted to Kakashi's calm face to Sakura's slightly worried one. "Uh..I.. Hey-Hey, Sak-Sakura-chan!" he stammered out, mentally hitting himself at his inability to concoct a simple greeting.

Sakura was here. And Sasuke was here too. They were approximately a foot away from each other—way _way _out of Tsunade's given distance. What was he going to do? He couldn't pull Sasuke away; that was too obvious. Stupid silver-haired sensei; he didn't have to call her down. Sasuke didn't sense her and even if he did, the Uchiha wouldn't do anything—he knew that they weren't supposed to interact.

But there she stood. A foot away—Sakura shifted her weight and moved slightly to the right. Ok, so now they were _ten _inches away.

Sasuke stood awkwardly to the side watching the blonde mumble and stutter while Sakura looked torn between a laugh and a look of worry. "Dobe, what's wrong with you?" Naruto glared at Sasuke and then to Kakashi. "What is wrong with _you_?!" he asked, throwing the question at an amused Kakashi.

"I'm handling it." Was all the older man said before twisting around and walking away with the cat. "Join us for lunch, Sakura?" he asked the only female. Sakura cast a sidelong glance at the tensed Uchiha before smiling at Kakahi's back.

After years of being in team seven and having Kakashi as a teacher, Sakura could tell an order from a request. "Sure." She said quietly, pulling Naruto from the hem of his ripped shirt and dragging him along as she followed Kakashi.

"You guys owe me lunch anyway." She joked, grinning at the blonde. Naruto forced a grin to his face and laughed. "I guess so! Give me a moment, Sakura-chan, ok?" he scrambled out of her grip and made a mad dash for his nonchalant sensei.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he asked in a fierce whisper when he fell into step with the Jounin. Naruto glared at his sensei. "It's been six months, Naruto. I think they should be allowed to speak to each other."

The teen glanced back to check on Sakura who was tailing them, humming to herself softly while she kept her relaxed pace. His gaze then slid down further to Sasuke who looked like he was staying behind on purpose, his hands shoved into the pockets of his black shorts.

It wasn't like he was against it. Heck, he wanted to leap for joy. But they received orders and if Tsuande found out they broke them, there'd be hell to pay and bruises to heal.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by his sensei. "I've spoken to her. She left the judgement to me. It's time for Haruno Sakura to meet Uchiha Sasuke again."

* * *

Lunch happened relatively fast. After the pathetic excuse of a mission the two boys had, Naruto dragged them to, where else but: Ichiraku Ramen, not even bothering to head to the Hokage tower to report that their mission was a success.

His excuse: Genin mission gets Genin behaviour.

"Naruto, shishou is going to have your head for having to skip lunch to wait for your report!" Sakura scolded, waving her spoon around as she spoke, splattering Naruto's face with chicken broth. "It's a cat, Sakura-chan" he grumbled, wiping away the droplets of soup from his cheek.

"I don't even think s_he _took this mission seriously." The mission was probably even meant to poke fun at them for still being genin despite their power; it was a cruel joke at her part and if the Hokage skipping lunch meant a little justice served then, so be it! She would have no lunch.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde's antics, poking at his steamed pork lightly with his chopsticks. Kakashi eyed him silently before flicking his deep gaze to Sakura.

It was now or never.

"Sakura have you ever done a physical for an ex-convict before?" he asked casually, earning a glare from the Uchiha.

The rosette looked up from her soup and raised a brow at her former sensei. "I've done autopsies. Why?" Sasuke choked on his noodles while Naruto sprayed soup all over the counter; he coughed, pounding his fist against his chest rapidly hoping.

The oblivious rosette glared at the two young men who were struggling to keep noodles out of their noses. "What, you guys have a problem with autopsies?" Weak stomachs. She thought in distaste, turning back to her soup and taking a huge gulp from her bowl.

"Guess they don't live that long in your hands, eh?" Kakashi continued, not straying from the conversation despite the big reactions from both of his male students. Sakura shrugged. "Some die in the interrogations. That's Ino's thing."

Another choke from Sasuke.

Sakura looked coolly at Sasuke. "You okay, Uchiha? You look like you're having some trouble swallowing." The Uchiha glared at her. "There are bones in the soup."

"It's pork ramen."

Sasuke smirked. "Precisely why I had a hard time." Sakura gave him a small nod of approval, amused by his quick thinking.

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yeah. Pig bones are _huge_!" Kakashi coughed to get the rosette's attention. "Well, since you've never done it before, now's your chance." He saw Sakura's face twist in confusion at his odd statement. Kakashi put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and pushed down on it hard making the poor Uchiha choke painfully once again on his soup.

"Another bone, Sasuke?" Kakashi teased before flicking his head to Sakura to avoid the Uchiha's glare. "You get to conduct a physical on your f_irst…"_

Dark pools of onyx widened at Kakashi's statement. Was he going to say it? Really? A memory flashed before his eyes: a young and frail Sakura stopping him from leaving the village. _"Sasuke-kun, I lov—_

_"…first _ex –convict!" Sasuke broke out of his memories like a drowning man emerging from a lake. He took a slow gulp of hair and let his shoulders relax. He trailed his dark eyes to Naruto who also had been on edge at Kakashi's statement.

He then switched his gaze to Sakura. She was staring at him thoughtfully, her green eyes met his cool dark ones and he held her gaze steady. Did her eyes always hold confidence? He never knew—he never cared.

Sasuke abruptly broke the stare just in time to see her break into a small smile. "Sure! I'll do it!" she looked at him awkwardly. "I guess it's about time we start over, eh Uchiha?" she stated before widening her smile. "After all our past meetings haven't been quite positive."

Well, he did try to kill her once… Sasuke thought. But of course she wouldn't remember that. "Aa." The rosette didn't know why she was trying so hard to accept this young man as comrade. She was trained to always be suspicious and her past encounters with the Uchiha were anything but pleasant. But there was something there; something she couldn't put her finger on.

And so she found herself standing next to the high stool he was sitting on, with her hand outstretched. "Hi, I'm Haruno Sakura. I hope we can be friends." Sasuke took her small hand in his and gave it a solid shake. "Uchiha Sasuke." He muttered before he cast his eyes towards his soup, letting go of her hand and dropping his.

Sakura smiled and walked to her chair to finish off the remnants of her ramen.

Naruto who'd been silent throughout the whole ordeal, threw a fleeting glance at his sensei. "I hope you know what you're doing Kakashi-sensei."

* * *

**LOVE IT**

**HATE IT**

**LET ME KNOW**

**REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW.**

**finished at 2 am. Sorry for typos and errors.**

PS: Work is tiring. Ugh. I find myself up until two in the morning just to update. Oh gosh…. Anyway my hip is still not ok =( this totally blows!

Who's read Clockwork Princess?! Fangirl with me over the awesomeness that is Tessa's love life… Someone send me my own Will Herondale.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys! Updates won't be happening as often as before. I'm reviewing for so many tests and I really need to nail these. I'm making fanfiction my reward for studying. For every lesson I understand completely, I can update. So this is my break from studying. =)) like instead of TV? Good idea, yes? haha

**THANK YOU FOR THE ENCOURAGING REVIEWS. I appreciate all of them! I re-read them before typing up a chapter and it just make me so happy.**

**You guys are the best, keep 'em coming. ;) I just...wow. Thank you. **

* * *

Chapter 9: Marred lines

Ino clutched the schedule in her hands tightly, crumpling the small piece of paper as she continued to blatantly stare at the impassive-faced young man sitting in front of her.

This was quite an interesting turn of events.

"Let me get this straight… You're getting a medical check-up from—

"Sakura." Sasuke finished for her, his face finally breaking into a scowl. This was the fifth time the blonde had repeated the same sentence; each time she said it, the more irritated he felt. Was it really hard to believe that he and Sakura were finally going to interact? He looked at Ino's greatly confused face once more—yes, apparently it w_as. _

The blonde tossed the piece of paper and let it tumble down to her desk carelessly, she was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice her patient snatching up the discarded piece of paper. Surely Kakashi was out of his mind. Not that he hasn't shown signs of madness before; with his odd obsession with porn and his strange, albeit, useful plans and strategies during missions. But _this_—this was definitely an indication of pure unadulterated ludicrousness. Ino was supposed to be a mind expert and even she was baffled beyond comparison—what could have possibly triggered Kakashi's sudden decision to throw these two into the same room?

After six months of carefully placed distance between the two, he decides to throw caution to the air. Could his sentimentality be breaking through the resistance? Her brows furrowed while her gaze slid over her notes.

What would happen now?

She stumbled with her words and glanced at the Uchiha with an unsure expression on her face.

"So..How do you feel about it?" Sasuke gave her blank look. "It's a _check-up_." He replied dully, emphasizing the last word with every bit of annoyance hefelt at the moment. And there was a lot of pent up irritation in his being right now—he had to catch a cat for crying out loud and now he has to put up with a woman who looked like she no longer knew if the earth was spinning or if there was such a thing called air.

Ino's voice was quiet and, according to him, rather high—even for her. "But it's with Sakura." The Uchiha rolled his inky eyes at the blonde and reiterated what he'd been saying for the past ten minutes. "Kakashi said I was due for one and no one else would be willing to give me a check-up." He shrugged and let his gaze slide to the right. After all, what a former missing-nin could do with a thermometer was undoubtedly terrifying to a mere medic-nin; they needed a much more battle-ready medic and who better than Tsunade's very own apprentice: Haruno Sakura.

"Does Tsunade know about this?"

* * *

A bottle of fine sake hit the wall behind Kakashi. Tsunade's scream echoed soon after, filling the room with her fiery voice. "How did it not occur to you to run this by me first!" another bottle was violently flung across the room; this time almost hitting its target. Kakashi swore Tsunade could be pro at festival games where you threw things at a volunteer in hopes of knocking them into a pool of cold water.

"Tsunade-sama, you're wasting good sake." He ducked a flying cup and sighed patiently. "And now you're wasting good tea cups." He was sure that that cup was an heirloom of some sort. A dark eye glanced at the broken cup that was in shambles on the floor.

The Hokage's face was flushed with anger, she stood from her seat and slammed a fist onto her desk, splinters flew from the damaged table. She gazed at her handiwork and shifted her hard amber eyes to the silver-haired shinobi standing too close to the door for her liking. If he so much as moved to exit the room, so help her, she was going to throw the whole desk at him.

"Come over here, Hatake." Kakashi's eye followed her gaze to her messed up table, an image of his spine ending up in the same state bloomed into his mind's eye. "I can hear you alright from over here." He said lightly, waving off her command as if it were an invitation that he could decline.

Tsunade's voice hardened. "_Come. HERE." _

The authority in her voice seemed to shake the room as well as Kakashi's stubbornness; he took a few careful steps forward, watching Tsunade with a keen eye lest she throw a chair at him in her rage.

"I'm waiting, Hatake." Her voice was cool and collected—the complete opposite of her tone beforehand. Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if she was indeed going through her menopausal state.

He reached the desk and sat down on one of the chairs adjacent to it. The copy-nin took a deep breath, readied his argument and opened his covered mouth to speak. Tsunade caught his eye and held up a hand to stop him from saying anything—Kakashi snapped his mouth shut and gestured for her to go on.

It was best not to contradict her at the moment. He thought eyeing her hand that was clutching a sharp looking letter opener.

Tsunade cleared her throat and intertwined her fingers in front of her. "Kakashi, I know that I said to handle it. But I would at least like you to tell me about right away." She held up a piece of paper and waved it in front of him. "I heard about it from a nurse! Obviously, I thought it was some mistake in the filing—I almost fired three people today."

Kakashi saw her point. It was only he who had the right to put the go signal on Sasuke and Sakura's interaction, aside from her. So her hearing it from a nurse would obviously tick her off.

"I should've told you sooner." Kakashi said in agreement.

"You should've told me _before _making the call." Tsunade grumbled. "I would've taken to the situation a little calmer." She continued, gathering her herself in an attempt to calm her frazzled emotions.

"But would you have allowed it?" His question shocked her. Tsunade's amber eyes slid closed while she thought hard about what he'd just asked her. Would she? Would she actually have agreed to his plan? Kakashi was smart; he'd let her see reason. But would she see it—would she choose to see it or simply ignore it just to keep Sakura's mental welfare secure.

Kakashi thought it time to speak. "Hokage-sama," he began respectfully. "I have Sakura's welfare in my best intentions as well as Sasuke's. I think that it is time these two re-encounter each other again. Not as old teammates, sadly, but at least as new friends—it's been half a year."

The woman's eyes opened slowly and regarded the shinobi with a calculated gaze. "I understand fully, Hatake. But I found out from one of my nurses. I thought you went behind my back. Don't let that happen again."

* * *

It was seven in the evening when Sasuke began his walk home from his session with Ino at the hospital. He gazed around the town briefly before cutting into the woods to avoid running into people he knew and to get to his destination without being questioned as to why he was there in the first place.

Sasuke pumped a little chakra to his feet and quickly began to spring from tree to tree at quite a remarkable speed despite the little amount of chakra. He concentrated more than he should on his jumping to fend off any wandering thoughts about his situation with Sakura. It was just a check-up, nothing more. But didn't she say she hoped to be friends?

Did he want to be her friend again? He brushed the thought away quickly, steadying his gaze on a branch and started jumping on branches of different heights to keep his mind occupied. Besides, it's not that it mattered whether he became her friend again, he was used to having to cut people off—he did it once with her; he could do it again. Even though he they never really reconciled officially like he and Naruto had.

Soon he reached the place he'd never once visited ever since his return—his old home; the Uchiha Compound.

His obsidian orbs took in the sight of the small village-like compound. A little contempt swelled inside him as he continued to just stare at his still ominous looking former home.

This was where it all started. Betrayals, lies, _death_—this was the place where his entire view life shattered; destroyed. Trust, safety and family—those things all left him that night and this compound in its entirety was a symbol of all that.

A cold breeze swept through, ruffling his hair and blowing at his clothes. But it did not bother the young man, trapped in his own musings over the estate that once held so much pride. _Once._

Why was this still up anyway? It's not like he wanted to live here again. Despite having moved on, there was no way he was going to live in the same vicinity again. Tradition be damned. He did not want to wake up in the same place where his clan had ultimately secured its own demise.

He'd bring back the clan—that was always part of his plan. But he'd do it somewhere else, and he'd make sure that what befell his predecessors, wouldn't happen again. He would rebuild the Uchiha clan and give it back the honour it has lost due to the twisted politics and power plays that happened within the clan and village.

Looking at the old compound brought him back several years. He was still a boy then, a naïve child who saw everything black and white; right and wrong.

But then fate stepped in and splashed a little red. And as he grew up, things started getting more marred and blurred; he no longer knew which was black and which was white because there was just too much red.

"Uchiha-san?" Sasuke closed his eyes tightly and reopened them, turning as he did so to look at the person who, thankfully, broke him out of his own thoughts.

_Pink_

There, standing next to him, with a confused look on her face was his former teammate. "Sasuke." He corrected in his deep baritone earning a weird look from Sakura.

"First name basis." He continued to answer her unasked question. He didn't like being called 'Uchiha-san' by someone he was well associated with—sort of.

"Well, if you say so…" she muttered out casually. "Sasuke." She said aloud, testing the way his name felt and judging from her tone, she seemed okay with it. The Uchiha looked closely to see if it sparked anything; a small flicker in the back of his mind. He didn't even know why he was checking but he just did.

"What?" she asked, crossing her arms and pulling back slightly. He was staring at her a little too much.

Sasuke roughly tore his gaze away, abandoning his futile search, and began to study the patterns of the worn out roofs of the compound. "Hn." Sakura rolled her eyes at his default response to everything. Was it her or was this his immediate response to awkward situations?

They were alone on the street. The estate itself was daunting enough to ward off any passers-by. It loomed above most houses and the huge arc at the entrance seemed to hold its own despite the compound being abandoned for years. Sakura stared at the houses and thought over what it must've been like to be part of a clan as huge and formidable as the Uchiha clan once was.

"I didn't think you'd want to be here." She mused softly, looking up at his face before following his gaze. "Are you considering returning to this residence?" He shifted his gaze to the huge arc that towered above both of them.

"No."

* * *

Sakura winced a little, she expected his answer to be cold but this was downright icy. She flicked another glance at him before abandoning any other topics about the compound. Clearly, it wasn't a nice icebreaker. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She studied her feet while she gathered the resolve to try again.

In the dim light, the two stood in complete silence; one too deep in thought to acknowledge the other's efforts to stir conversation between them.

With a deep breath and squared shoulders, she drew up and opened her mouth to speak. However, her voice hitched and died when she saw the weird look he was giving her; it was similar to the one he gave her the time he pulled her off the roof.

An awkward blush crept onto her cheeks, tinting her face with the faintest of red; Sakura hoped the dark masked it well enough.

"Look, Sasuke." She started a little awkwardly. "We've uh… had a few rough patches."

Sasuke snorted. He could name a few—starting when they were twelve. And maybe a few more recent ones like: the time he tried to kill her or when _she _tried to kill him.

And the situation they were in; this counted as a rough patch—getting wiped from a person's memory was hardly a trivial thing.

They had a fuck load of rough patches.

Sasuke let out a breath and listened to his former teammate speak, letting her voice echo throughout the night, filling the silence.

She wasn't looking at him; her head was slightly turned to the right and her eyes were glued to a tree a few feet behind him. "And you clearly are mistaking me for some other childhood friend or whatever. I'm not sure what to make of it. But say we start over." She looked so determined to understand why he was suddenly thrust into her life after no inkling whatsoever, Sasuke frowned a little.

To her, he was a reinstated missing-nin who was adopted by her former team. Everyone else knew him but her—her closest people were also his, so why were they not even the least bit acquainted? Surely if he was that close to Naruto she would've heard about him.

"I mean, you're in my former team and seem to be really close with them. I don't see why we should be strangers."

He didn't see why either.

Sakura began to babble. Sasuke smirked mentally; at least some things stayed the same. "And I know we shook hands already but you and I both know it's for show because Kak-sensei was there and Naruto so I had to becau —Sasuke in his aloof-like manner; drew his hand from his side and offered it to her. "Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura, stunned at the sudden gesture, stared at it for a while before reaching out to take his hand. "Haruno Sakura." She said, letting her hand wrap around his and giving it a firm shake before letting go. "Let's start over, okay?" a smile made its way to her lips and Sasuke couldn't help but muse over how familiar that smile was—he never really thought he'd miss it until she started showing it to Naruto and Kakashi.

The Uchiha dropped his hand the moment she let go and shoved it into his pockets. "Hn. That was the point of the handshake." His snarky reply gave him a ticket to one of Sakura's glares; her smile disappearing. "Is this how you treat acquaintances?" her tone was accusing.

He shrugged. "It's how I treat everyone." Sakura dropped her glare and settled for an annoyed look. It would take more than a lifetime to understand the entity that was Uchiha Sasuke.

"Anyway, I have to get going. I'll see you tomorrow—Kakashi invited me for training." Sasuke was a little surprised, Kakashi didn't mention anything of the sort earlier.

With a quick wave at him, Sakura walked past him. He kept a steady gaze on her; watching her retreating form until it disappeared. Her pink hair was the last to leave his sight and once she was gone, Sasuke was once again trapped in his own thoughts.

_Pink_. There was always pink—it was where the red lapped with white in his black, white and red world. It had appeared when he'd joined team seven. Despite the sudden splash of red, there would always be a little pink that came through; and from that he could tell which direction to take.

Sakura was pink.

It was funny though how Sakura was always clad in red. Who knew she'd be a curveball as well? He didn't realize it at all. She was probably the most obvious twist; being there with him since they were children—and she'd always been in red since they were genin.

His pink clad in the same red that marred his black and white. Sakura was the only person he never thought would be part of fate's red twist.

She was supposed to be just pink.

* * *

When Sasuke entered the apartment he shared with his teammate, a yellow blur launched at him from the couch. The Uchiha, quick with his feet, as usual, stepped aside just as his housemate was about to tackle him.

There was a _thud_ when Naruto slammed a hand on the door to steady himself.

"Teme! I cooked dinner! And you get home late?! Fuck you." Naruto grumbled and pointed to the lone piece of fish, that looked like it had gone through three drastic fires. It sat on a plate along with some rice and a red gooey thing. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and looked at Naruto disbelievingly.

The blonde, realizing what he'd just said, slowly turned to face Sasuke; a look of absolute horror etched onto his tanned face. "Holy crap! I sound like your domestic partner!" all he was trying to do was be somewhat considerate. Although why he showed it through cooking Sasuke dinner was beyond him—there were other ways of showing good roommate nature; like wiping the mirror after you shower or doing the dishes.

But cooking dinner? What the hell was he thinking?

"Big word, dobe." Sasuke taunted, ignoring the fish and heading to the fridge to look for a semi-decent dinner that would not give his body carcinogens.

Naruto began panicking and running all over the place, picking up the plate that held the abandoned piece of fish and tossing it into the trash; plate included. "Damn it! Did I just throw the plate?!"

He then found his way to Sasuke and began shaking the irked young man. "Why am I the woman in this relationship?!" he was yelling so loud, the Uchiha swore he heard someone above below their floor laugh. "And why'd you let me throw the plate?!"

It part of a set—a housewarming gift from Sakura.

Sasuke pried of Naruto's fingers from his shirt and grabbed a tomato…or three. "Dobe, is _that _the only thing you're worried about?" he grumbled, ducking out of the hand that shot out to grab him. The fact that Naruto was more concerned about being the man in the 'relationship' was not reassuring. At this point, he really was acting like a frazzled, dare he say it, girlfriend.

"I'll have you know, teme. If this was an actual relationship besides friendship, I would be the man." His sudden proclamation lodged a large piece of tomato down Sasuke's throat. The Uchiha coughed and tried his hardest to get the tomato to dislodge.

Naruto began to panic once more. "It's starting, Teme! God damn it! What are you doing to me?" he slouched onto one of his high-stools and put his head in his hands. Sasuke, evading death by tomato, glared at the blonde with so much intensity, he was sure Naruto could feel it.

"Dobe, you're the only one acting like a woman. Do you start cooking dinners for Inuzuka when you lodge together for missions?"

"Stop hurting my feelings."

Seeing as this would go nowhere. Sasuke decided to drop the topic; he was not in the mood to defend his views on their lodging agreements. Besides, Naruto was taking the rumours too seriously. Just yesterday, when they were getting out of the apartment, a couple came up to them and asked if they wanted to join them for a couple's dinner out.

Sasuke had taken it surprisingly calmly while Naruto had gone to a state of absolute horror and paranoia. _"Teme! They think we're going to kiss! They think we're going to kiss! They look horrified! No. No—_

_"Dobe, we're covered in mud and holding weapons. They don't think we're going to kiss, they think we're going to kill them." _

The Uchiha resisted the urge to smack the gloomy blonde who was still seated on the stool as the memory resurfaced to the present. The two had gone to buy a few bandages during their break from training. They'd arrived at the store covered in mud and were carrying weapons, because with Kakashi as a mentor, they never knew when he would strike.

In hopes of steering away from the topic of dating each other, Sasuke decided to mention his encounter with Sakura while he was visiting the Uchiha compound.

"I saw Sakura again today." He was nonchalant with his statement, plopping down on the couch as he said it and taking another bite of his tomato. Sasuke heard a shift of weight followed by the sound of the stool scraping against the wooden floors.

"When? Where? HOW?" Naruto was in front of him now, looking like he'd told him that he planned to dye his hair green and move to Sound. Sasuke gave a disgruntled grunt the blonde's overly pronounced emotional range.

"I was visiting the Uchiha estate. I ran into her there."

The blonde's face scrunched up in confusion. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and prodded his roommate to say something.

Naruto's voice sounded just as confused as he looked. "But, teme, she doesn't pass through the estate on her way home." The Uchiha compound was out of her way, unless she decided to walk all the way to the other side of the village and then turn back to go home, running into her there was pretty impossible.

* * *

Sakura was tired when she arrived at her apartment complex. She glanced at the steps and decided to exploit her abilities as a kunoichi; she pumped chakra to her feet and flashed up the steps.

In a matter of seconds, she was closing the door and tossing her keys into the ceramic holder. "I was going to see him tomorrow. I didn't have to follow him." Walking all the way to the east side and then turning right back to head home; not the smartest idea she's ever gotten.

She'd spotted the Uchiha leaving the hospital earlier this evening, despite logic, rationality and her better judgement, she decided to follow him to wherever he planned on going. What exactly she was trying to accomplish? She didn't know.

But she was drawn to him for some reason. He was a new person— and it was odd how he fit right in, in every aspect —except with her; Uchiha Sasuke was utterly new to her. But to everyone else, he was a friend or at least an acquaintance, to her he was a missing-nin who'd decided to come back.

To him however, she was someone—he thinks that at some point, they've met. And they probably have, in the battlefield, maybe, but as two people? She'd raked her brains out every night since their first encounter months ago, Sakura had no memory of any relations to the Uchiha whatsoever.

The rosette made her way to the couch and plopped down, eager to rest her tired feet after the long day. Though her feet were on their way to being rested, the couch, despite its comfort, did nothing to calm the whirring of her brain.

Sakura's green eyes glossed over as she began submerging herself into her own mind, trying to decipher what role Uchiha Sasuke would play in her life.

Why was she so drawn to him? Was it because she was curious? Or was it something entirely different altogether?

Then it hit her. The same exact pain, at the same exact spot; it started slow, a dull thudding pain that then expanded and morphed into a sharp pain that cut through all her senses. Sakura clutched her head and curled up on the couch gnashing her teeth together as the searing pain worsened. She let out a strangled groan, still clutching her head.

What was going on with her?

* * *

**THANKS FOR READING**

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**LET ME KNOW.**

**I know it's short, sorry. But well, exams and my future. Pretty daunting . hahaha (plus my mom totally wouldn't leave the room and it was hard to write with her constantly breaking my train of thought)**


	10. Chapter 10

Ladies and gentlemen, I am back. Ok, long story short; I got sick, I had exams, felt sad and yeah. But I'm back that's all that matters. I'm going to add my updates into my planner so I get to update once or twice a month.

**I love you all for reviewing. I cannot begin to explain how amazing it is to hit 133 reviews! Let's get it higher? I look back at them and smile—in turn, I give you the best possible chapter. =) Keep them coming.**

**Thanks for all the good lucks and well-wishes. I feel looooooved. I'm sorry for the long wait. But hey, I didn't miss a month, right? Your support is much appreciated.**

**Thank you for helping me reach 100+ reviews. Thank you, Thank you.**

* * *

Chapter 10: A New Playing Field

"It's a small prick. What are you so scared about?" Haruno Sakura chastised as she pulled on Sasuke to get him into position more convenient for her. Sasuke glared at her and tugged his arm back; the hell was she trying to do?

"I'm not getting a shot. I don't need it." It was stupid, especially since he learned that it was a vaccine given to five year olds. He was _not _a five year old—damn it. His obsidian orbs found her annoyed face and immediately his stubbornness began to resurface.

And no; he wasn't scared.

He sat on the edge of the long clinic bed. And his legs were bent as awkwardly as he was feeling at the very moment. If he missed the shot when he was a child then, it made no sense getting it now. He hadn't gotten sick; and his living conditions from the past few years were a far cry from sterile. So whatever disease this damn vaccine was for, he would not need it.

"No." Sasuke repeated quietly, reminding Sakura of a spoiled child.

Sakura rolled her eyes and shifted her weight. They've been at this for at least ten minutes now and they were no closer to stopping this trivial yes versus no argument. With a firm hand that was laced with a little chakra, the pink-haired young woman grabbed his arm yet again and pulled with a little more force than a doctor should be using for a patient.

But when your patient was Uchiha Sasuke, the rules were a little different.

It was insane how a man used to getting sliced at with swords and kunai would not allow a small little prick on his forearm. It was just a vaccine. "Don't tense your muscles or it'll hurt." She said monotonously; she had been saying the same thing for years now and was over her 'kind medic' phase whenever she had to deal with stubborn shinobi like Sasuke.

"Uchiha would you rather I cut you with a katana as an alternative way to get this vaccine in you?" She was just about sick of trying to get him to steady his arm. "Or would you rather I knocked you out?" her tone was casual and non-threatening but her credentials said otherwise. She would have, no doubt, knocked him out just to make her job easier.

At her threat of violence to his person, Sasuke straightened and threw her a fierce glare that, to his surprise, did not deter her determination whatsoever. Despite his obvious with her, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to a time where interaction with Sakura like this came regularly and nonstop.

It was a relief to somewhat know that things were starting to fall in place again. It would never be the same, that fact ate him up, but this was something. At least it was a chance at something as close to normal as possible.

He felt a stinging sensation on his arm and he watched disdainfully as the liquid slowly entered his muscles. "Here." Sakura grumbled irritably, chucking a blue lollipop at his face which he caught without blinking. The wrapper crinkled as he clutched the small piece of candy. Sasuke regarded it with a little, but concealed, distaste.

"I don't like sweets." He said quietly still feeling a little guilty over the many times he'd lashed at her for gifting him with candies. Sasuke half-expected for her to look dejectedly away; and maybe stumble with her words.

But of course, he was surprised yet again at her façade. She stood as tall as ever, not flinching at his rejection of her offered treat. He never really knew what she was like—what she'd become— after the war apart from what he'd noticed upon his return.

He kept thinking that maybe there'd be traces of the Sakura he'd left way back then. They were there but this Sakura was a lot better at keeping her in check. Sometimes Sasuke saw a hint of the old Sakura when she was amongst rookie nine. Sakura had changed drastically—everyone else had too. Though of course what made her Sakura was still ingrained in her despite the metamorphosis. It wasn't like she changed into a whole new person entirely. But without her memories of him, Sasuke wondered if she'd be the same Sakura to him as she was to the rest.

Sakura shrugged and grabbed the lollipop from him with nonchalance. "That's cool." She said as she unwrapped the sweet and stuck it into her mouth. The pink-haired ANBU officer sucked on it then pulled it out making a resounding _'pop' _sound as she did so.

"We're getting to know each other already. I call this progress." She joked before sliding back the rejected treat into her mouth. The Uchiha smirked at her joke and its double meaning to what he had been musing about inwardly. His eyes travelled up to look at her straight in the eyes.

Sakura met his gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Your shirt; I'll need you to take it off." She said this as if she'd expected him to have done it already without her stating to do so. The Uchiha stared at her with a hint of apprehension his inky black eyes.

"Look, you have training. _I _have training. Can we just hurry up with this routine check-up?" Sakura pleaded. It wasn't like she was having the time of her life here. Heck, she wasn't supposed to be here unless someone had an axe embedded into some part of their body—or something to that effect. In fact the axe scenario was a lot more common than people thought. So it has placed itself under the list of minor incidents. Not that she'd ever deny anyone to be treated by her, it was just that other medics were skilled enough to handle most cases therefore leaving her to focus on more threatening injuries and research; As well as her ANBU duties.

Long story short; they usually called her in for bigger stuff. And a physical for Uchiha Sasuke was _neither _life-threatening nor of utter importance—but he scared the living shit out of everyone he looked at so I guess this was a special case.

"Your _shirt_, Uchiha." She tugged at the hem impatiently to drive her point further. "Take it off."

"Getting physical already, I see…." A lazy voice wafted over to the two glaring young ninjas. Sakura let out an exasperated sigh, turning to cast a glowering gaze at her uninvited visitor. "Oi, Kaka-sensei, _unless _you are dying of internal bleeding," Sakura waved her hand from his head to his feet as she dragged out her sentence with a scowl "Since I don't see any wrong with you externally, I would like you to leave."

Kakashi feigned a hurt look, though it was hard to do considering a huge chunk of his face was covered by his headband and mask. "I just wanted to see how he was doing."

"They actually let you just walk in on a session?"

The silver-haired ninja shrugged. "Uh…yeah." He was Hatake Kakashi—that was all the authority he needed.

Sasuke, who was ignored ever since his sensei walked in, began to get up and make his way to the still open door. He was about to walk past Sakura when she raised a strong arm to stop him from leaving. "Shirt _off_."

She was not going to reschedule this appointment.

"Dominatrix—who knew?" Kakashi stated, looking at Sasuke, as he scratched his head casually, ignoring the hostile glare Sakura gave him as she blushed at his perverted comment.

Sasuke smirked decided to have a little fun. "You should she what she can do with a needle."

* * *

"On hindsight maybe we did go a little too far." Kakashi muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. He was sporting a bruise on his left arm—a nasty one at that. Sasuke on the other hand, got off without a scratch. The Uchiha had seen his lady friend punch his sensei when he was at mid-laugh and was able to brace himself for an attack on him as well.

Kakashi glared at the bruise that the young medic was tending to. "She didn't even heal it." He grumbled unperturbed by the medic's giggles that slipped out of her mouth ever so often as she listened in on the topic the two stoic men were discussing.

"Your whole physical, she ignored me."

"You called her a dominatrix."

Kakashi shrugged. "She bruised me didn't she?"

* * *

Naruto grumbled a slur of profanities as he awoke from his little nap under the tree. "Hey, I was here on time, you don't get to kick me." He sat up quickly, rubbing his left arm. The blonde angled his head up to see who his assailant was. The glare that peaked out from the foliage blinded him for a few seconds before he grew accustomed to the brightness.

His eyes refocused and soon he found himself staring right at Sakura's irritated face. "Someone's in a violent mood today." His blue eyes were filled with laughter as they took in Sakura's face; shadowed slightly by the leaves and her current bad mood.

Sakura scoffed and crosses her arms. "If someone called you a dominatrix you'd be too." Naruto grinned foxily and rubbed his shoulder some more. "You kicking me on the shoulder isn't really helping your case." It was funny how Sakura grew so red at such a short amount of time. It was a blush Hinata would indeed be proud of.

"Shut up, Naruto." She said in a small voice, still embarrassed over the whole dominatrix bonanza that's been going around of late. However, the snarky remarks and light-hearted jabs were something she had been craving for. These past few months had been tense for some unknown reason. Her mind jogged a memory of Naruto; totally serious faced, telling her to leave without so much as a small explanation over what was going on.

And then after that, she'd seen nobody besides elite ANBU officers and Tsunade. It had her disgruntled for the rest of the months that came forth. However, as she looked down at one of her best friends, she was finally starting to feel like things were normalizing again.

Whatever happened the first six months must've been some sort of issue between her old team and the newly returned missing-nin. She had no part of it, she figured, that was why she had not been as included in their affairs for the past few months. He was after all a close comrade to them—though it kind of struck a chord to know that they had chosen to blatantly not include her in anything.

But well, she had her own share of things to worry about anyway; like her weird dreams and headaches. Not to mention her weird interest for the very person that had seemed to ostracize her from her very close net of friendship.

She had to admit. Sakura felt herself an outsider when it came to matters that pertained to the Uchiha. It was like he had been part of everyone's lives but hers. And yet, all she could do was wonder if in some point he was something in her life but if not, which was probably true since she had absolutely no memory of him whatsoever, she w_anted _him to be something—involved in her life.

The blonde broke her out of her thoughts. "Don't look now but I think the _first _sources of your misery are fast approaching." Naruto used his chin to point out Sasuke and Kakashi. "Mention the word dominatrix again and I _swear _you will have no children in the near future."

Naruto put a hand on his chest and let out a sigh. "That was cold, Sak." His tone was playful and a little strained from getting up after such a long time on lying on the ground in an awkward position. The blonde stretched out his legs, making a satisfied groan when a few of his joints popped.

The other two shinobi had reached them just as Naruto turned back to look at Sakura. "Took your time, didn't you?" Sakura grumbled in annoyance, still sore over what transpired earlier that morning. Her gaze moved from Sasuke's stoic face to Kakashi's pleasant one.

"I had to have my arm healed. Y'know internal bleeding that you refused to heal." Kakashi patted Sakura's head fondly before grinning. "But you are forgiven." The rosette rolled her eyes at her old sensei. Yeah, she like she was going to apologize in the first place.

But she let go of the incident. It wasn't as if she completely new to Kakashi's way of showing endearment. "Glad you guys finally invited me to one of these things." She indicated to the gathering with a swipe of her hand. "What're we doing?" she asked, ready for the exciting training exercise that only the silver-haired nin could come up with.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, a glint of determination in both the young men's eyes. "You ready for hell, teme?" the blonde taunted; an air of competition arose quickly from the two shinobi. Sakura glanced at them curiously and regarded Kakashi with an interested look.

"Are they always like this?" she asked.

* * *

Sasuke heard her innocent question and immediately a strange weight rested itself on his stomach. He glanced at the rosette who'd began conversing with his sensei animatedly about how friendly competition was vital among team mates.

Her question was simple—playful—even. Yet it had struck him as if she had insulted him gravely. To think he never really cared much of what people said.

The Uchiha threw a quick look to Naruto, already the blonde had made his way into the conversation and was already getting bonked on the head by the only female. A little feeling of isolation encircled him as he watched them argue about something that was probably irrelevant.

Would he ever be able to act normally around her as he used to even though deep within his conscious something in him will always want what he once had back? He'd build new relations with her but will his undiscerning want for how it used to be ever go away?

He raked a hand through his raven locks in frustration—now he knows why he was assigned psychiatric counselling from Yamanka Ino.

"Teme, stop being a weirdo-loner and get over here! Kaka-sensei is setting up the rules." Naruto waved him over quickly, not waiting for him to respond before turning back to the conversation. Sakura gave him a quick smile to apologize for her comrade's choice of words

For some reason, Naruto's statement and Sakura's supplement to it were a relief to him. What he's just said early was very similar to what he might have said back when they were twelve. And the rosette's apologetic smile also felt like something familiar; plus the fact that it seemed so natural to her was another up to his mood.

The young Uchiha wanted to punch himself right in the face for being such a sentimental mess. He refused to believe that he the bonds the he thought he'd severed meant more to him than he let known. Oh, the laughs and 'I-told-you-so's' he'd get from the blonde.

But he returned for a reason right?

"Wait! I'm just watching?!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi nodded, putting a hand on Sasuke's shoulder when he joined the circle. "Sorry, Sak. But you only get to watch for now—don't worry it'll be fun." He said reassuringly with an evil glint in his eye that made even Sasuke feel a little insecure.

"Now." Kakashi clapped, getting the attention of the three powerful young ninjas. "Same rules as the first three attempts." He brought out the worn bells. "But with some inspiration." He gestured to Sakura with a jerk of his head to the left.

"Didn't we already take the bells?" Sakura asked Naruto who nodded. "Yeah, but teme hasn't. And the rules are different. No weapons, limited amount of chakra and no special techniques while Kakashi has full usage of them"

Sakura gaped. "So you're going in with almost nothing?" They had vast amounts of chakra and were used to using it to the full. Cutting down their chakra tanks to the level Naruto mentioned, which was one-fourth, would mean them using the amount of chakra they had roughly when they were genin. Which meant that they wouldn't be able to do much even if they wanted to; their newer jutsus required way more chakra.

Although, genin-level chakra tanks were still doable—to a well-trained shinobi, it was all just a matter of how to use it. But the huge catch was that they could not use any jutsus. Talk about challenging.

"You're going genin style, eh?" fitting since they both, technically, were of genin status. Wise old man Kakashi has struck again.

"Something like that." Sasuke answered. He'd expected Sakura to give them both a sympathetic smile but instead he got a slap on the back followed by a grin. "Well, he was right. This will be fun."

"Only because you don't have to do it." The Uchiha retorted, crossing his arms as he glared at Kakashi.

"Children, shut up. The challenge starts in 3, 2, 1—_poof! _Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Here we go." Naruto groaned as he and Sasuke sprung to action. Sakura, feeling it time to find a quiet place to watch jumped up a tree and sat on one of its high branches, her legs dangling as she settled herself into a comfortable position.

* * *

"How many?" Sasuke asked, his eyes roaming the forest with careful footing. The grounds Kakashi chose was treacherous in its landscape alone. "Five….. Eight—shit! Ten!" Naruto glanced around them. "And they're e_verywhere_."

If the old man's tactic was to tire them out, he had it all figured out; from what the blonde gathered, Kakashi had spread out over the huge expanse of forest. It would take forever to track one clone down and if they get it wrong, which was highly possible, it would give the silver-haired pervert to regroup and switch positions.

"How many clones can you make—fuck." Sasuke had just about rendered a plan in his head but stopped short on further developments when he remembered that they couldn't use jutsus of any sort. He half turned to Naruto.

"I say we go for the one of the nearest ones. He's bound to keep a close eye on us." Naruto suggested, still staring into the trees on his right where he felt the closest signal. "But he might be toying with us and is sitting on his ass somewhere farther." Sasuke's point was valid. It is a high possibility.

But with two good points, where would they decide to go?

Sakura, from her tree, giggled and whistled to catch the boy's attention. "You guys need to be a little more creative." She was playful in countenance when she spoke; meaning no insult to the two young men beneath her. "We didn't get steal the bells from him the traditional way." The statement was directed to both boys; A reminder to Naruto and helpful advice to Sasuke.

The Uchiha flicked his eyes to the blonde and asked him how exactly they'd gotten the bells the first time. "We stole his book and threatened to spoil the ending. Sakura's idea," Naruto replied with a grin. "Plus she evened out the playing field." He said, using his hands to make quotation marks in the air.

Sasuke's eyes travelled up to Sakura who supplemented Naruto's statement with a gesture: she punched her palm— shedding light to what Naruto meant by "evened out" the playing field.

Just then, a figure blurred past them and attempted to attack Sasuke with a kunai. The Uchiha side-stepped quickly, grabbing the man as he did so, and kneed him in the stomach earning a weird squishy sound when his knee came in contact with his opponents middle.

"Someone got a little bored." Sasuke drawled out when the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It was Kakashi trying to aggravate them the dark-haired shinobi thought; A tactic that would test their patience.

"If he's doing this to piss us off, it's working." Naruto bellowed from a few yards away. He too was engaged in battle. Two Kakashi shadow clones, both armed, sped towards him with remarkable speed.

Once slashed at his right while the other, at his left—giving him no room to dodge except for either up or down. And whichever of the two he picked, he'd end up in a position where both clones had the upper hand.

So he chose the lesser of two evils. The blonde leapt up to avoid the sharp knives but was careful to jump only high enough to evade getting slashed, any higher and he'd be opening himself up to series of kicks and punches in the air—similar to Sasuke's Lion's Barrage.

And that would hurt.

However, as soon as he leapt up, the clones came to a halt and shifted their weight to rebound to the other direction as they did, both clones launched their kunais at the kyuubi-host. This all happened in a split second and if Naruto had not reacted quickly, two kunais would be lodged into both his shoulders.

He'd dropped to the ground, missing the kunais by only a millisecond—it whizzed through the air so quickly and closely to him that he could feel a grazing sensation on his skin from the wind. As his back hit the ground, he rolled over far to his right avoiding yet another attack from the two Kaka-clones—the two were about to tackle him but he'd escaped in time.

Huffing and puffing, Naruto jerked up fast and began pumping chakra to his feet. He ran towards the clones and flung out his arm to hit one clone's jaw. Twirling around hastily but with grace, Naruto brought up his elbow and slammed it hard against the other's chest.

Both clones disappeared simultaneously in puffs of smoke leaving Naruto with some breathing room. "Dobe!" Sasuke yelled nearing him. The Uchiha dove forward and snatched a kunai that was lodged onto the ground.

His hands found that handle rather quickly and once he had a firm grip he pulled it out; throwing it in another direction seconds only before it exploded. The obsidian-eyed young man glared up at the slightly shocked blonde. "You didn't notice the exploding tag?" he asked sarcastically as he got up.

Naruto looked abashedly at his teammate. "Heh. Guess not…"

"Risky move though, Uchiha..." Sakura commented again. Exploding tags were rigged to explode within seconds. Sasuke's stunt could've have cost him his arm—and his pretty face. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to tackle him out of the way?"

Sasuke smirked at her. "I'm fast enough."

The rosette made a snort and chastised the Uchiha's actions. He was fast—yes. But to take on a huge risk despite having seen a better alternative was crazy. "You're lucky you have the power and abilities to back up your arrogance." Sakura said. "Otherwise, you would've died years ago…."

Her sentiment was answered with a shrug from the two boys. "I have an idea." Sasuke pointed to where Kakashi had laid a pouch of some sort at the bottom of the tree where they found Naruto and Sakura.

"He left something there." Naruto was a little confused over his statement. "Yeah, so?" he asked, still not understanding where his teammate was going. It was normal to let go of some weapons during training, he'd done so many a time especially if he felt the need for less weight on his person.

Sasuke strode over to the tree with quick light steps, approaching the tree with purpose. "_How _did you beat him last time?"

Naruto sighed. "I told you—we stole his boo-" with a startled gasp, the blonde bent over to pick up the pouch. "You mean inside this is his pervy book?!" he waved the pouch around before he flipped the flap open.

The Uchiha, happy to find a solid piece of hope to cling on to, grabbed the book from Naruto. He stared at the obscene piece of literature he now held in his hand with distaste. Their sensei had disguised in his weapons' pouch to drive attention away from it—probably thought that they wouldn't be able to use it against him unlike last time.

Naruto glanced at the book over Sasuke's shoulder. He pressed a finger on the lower right side of the book. Written there, in big bold letters, was: **LIMITED EDITION**

They hit the jackpot.

Sasuke turned to Naruto, "Here's the plan."

* * *

Naruto positioned himself at the center of the grounds, Kakashi's book held right in front of him; page turned to the last one—the ending. Just like what they did the first time.

His eyes picked up movement from the left side—Sasuke was coming; and with a few clones—three at most—at his tail judging from the chakra signatures he felt. They were a little too far still…. He needed them closer.

The goal was to get the clones to see that they had the book—there was no faster and better way to get the message to Kakashi.

_Clink _

_Swoosh_

They were now close enough for the plan to work.

"Okay! Kaka-sensei! Here goes nothing!" He bellowed, amplifying the volume of his voice to the fullest. _"Put your big mouth to good use and lure him in." _Sasuke's voice echoed in his head. The blonde shifted his weight to the right, taking in a deep breath before shouting again.

Suddenly a flurry of clones, from all sides, flew out of the woods. Naruto shut the book and prepared to defend himself from the onslaught of shadow clones. He ducked to his left, merely missing an exploding kunai then sidestepped three poisoned senbon that were aimed at his shoulder.

"Get rid of the clones, old man!" Naruto yelled. He kicked one clone that attempted to tackle him from behind. "I have your book!"

One Kakashi clone help up a hand. It took a few seconds for Naruto to realize that it was the _real _Hatake Kakashi. The silver haired ninja clapped his hands slowly, in a mocking-toned applause. "Yes, yes, you have my book… But you see,"

Sasuke, who sat concealed behind a thick bush, listened in carefully.

"I've already read that book—so you won't be able to spoil the ending for me." He'd taken with him the actual book that he was reading and left one of his old ones behind figuring that a tactic similar to what they had done in the past might come into play.

It was Naruto's turn to mock his sensei. "What make you think we're going to read it?" he asked rhetorically as he grabbed a single page and made a ripping gesture. "No, kaka-sensei, we're going to destroy this _limited edition _book."

Sakura, who'd been lounging in her tree lazily straightened up so abruptly she almost fell off. Why was it that it always boiled down to his book? At least she only threatened to read the ending, Sasuke plan promised its demise.

"Evil—pure evil."

Back on the grounds, Kakashi and Naruto were both staring down each other. "Uzumaki, give me the book and no one gets fatally hurt."

"One on one battle with no clones or _your book _gets fatally damaged." Naruto retorted, swinging the book casually.

"Fine but you've made me mad." He held up a hand sign. One by one, the clones started disappearing into puffs of smoke. Naruto looked please with himself until he looked at Kakashi; he was starting to remove his headband which meant only one thing.

"Holy shit, he's going to use the Sharingan." Sakura whispered.

And that was Sasuke's cue.

The dark-haired shinobi, in a dizzying blur of motion, lightning stepped to Kakashi and hit his chakra points; stunning the silver-haired shinobi and blocking the flow from his chakra tank which did more than just limit his chakra—it temporarily disabled his Sharingan.

"Consider the playing field even." Sasuke muttered as he grabbed the bells from the stunned man's belt and held it up to his face.

Naruto tossed the book to the ground and ran to his teammate. It was their third or fourth attempt at this exercise and to finally have come out victorious—the blonde felt so free.

"Dobe, don't touch me." Sasuke shoved Naruto away from him. He was not going to hug the idiot.

"We need to! We've accomplished something together." Sasuke cringed at the way it sounded as did Naruto when he realized what he just said and the double meaning behind it.

Sakura jumped down from her tree and began to unblock Kakashi's chakra flow. "Good job, guys." She said with a smile directed to both of them. She helped Kakash who, as soon as he got his movement back, grabbed the book from the ground and pressed it to his chest.

"Brats." He said as he stroked his poor book.

* * *

"How did your training go?" Ino asked professionally, pen at the ready to take down necessary notes. Her baby blue eyes were serious but friendly as she gazed at Sasuke expectantly. The Uchiha took a breath to buy himself time to figure out an answer.

"Natural." He said, not knowing how else to describe what he felt about it. He could've have said something that ventured more about their triumph but he knew what Ino was looking for and figured that it would be good for him to follow her flow.

He thought training would be awkward with Sakura there. Yet, it was the complete opposite. She would butt in, make comments and even joke around.

"You know, Sasuke… You haven't completely lost her." Ino offered quietly, giving him a soft smile. Sasuke looked affronted. "Who said anything about me losing her?" He wasn't afraid of losing her—he probably already did— the moment her memories of him were taken.

But Ino said otherwise.

"You mean to say that the fear I sense whenever I enter your mind comes from a different source?" She leaned back and crossed her legs. "Then what do you fear, Uchiha Sasuke?"

His first reaction was to glare and say that he feared nothing. Because, well—he didn't. But then as the question replayed in his mind, the more he thought that there was indeed something he feared.

It was silent in the room. Ino had left him to think things over and had begun writing her notes while Sasuke stayed deathly still on his chair; his mouth taut with tension that engulfed his whole body.

That question bugged him more than he thought it would. Sasuke blinked and thought hard, her question reverberating throughout his skull—he could literally see the question written in bold letters moving around his head begging to be answered.

He was brought back to his musings earlier today when he was having his physical. His fear was more about would he be able to let go of what he once had? Will his new start with Sakura be clouded by memories of the past—the one she would never remember?

"I don't want to live a lie." He was not going to fake things, Sakura remembered things differently and meeting her views would be too stressful.

"Did you feel bothered in general when you were interacting?" she inquired. Sasuke shook his head. No, sometimes memories would play in his mind but his overall feeling when he and Sakura interacted was pleasantly natural and easy.

"It felt…" he hesitated with his sentence but took to Ino's prodding. "It wasn't hard." It was fun, even. Not what he was expecting at all.

Ino smiled and closed her notebook. "Then that, Uchiha Sasuke, is progress. Sometimes, things like these can't be over-thought. You sometimes just have to just flow." Ino knew that at the back of his mind Sasuke was nervous about what if the new wouldn't hit the spot of the old. It was in all of their minds when Sakura's memories were altered. But they turned out fine—and he will too.

Everyone thought they'd have a different Sakura but that wasn't the case. She was just as they remembered and it's not like the brought Sasuke up anyway. However, this was where their cases varied from Sasuke. He was the one who was never to be referenced so trying to forge a new relationship with the rosette was more a strain on him than anyone else.

But nevertheless, he'd pull through.

She caught his gaze.

"You and Sakura have a new playing field—and you may miss the old one but you'll learn to play this one just fine. She's still the same Sakura."

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW.**

Seriously your reviews are something that push me to write so much better.** =)**


	11. Chapter 11

Fast update because I felt like it. ;) Feel free to give me your insight on the chapters—

I'd love to know what your opinions are. Like guesses on what'll happen or reactions to whatever transpired in the chapter. ;)

**Read and Review. (throw the author a bone)**

* * *

Chapter 11: Curiosity

"Do I look like a dominatrix to you?" Sakura asked out of the blue; shocking her friend who stuttered in embarrassment at her bluntness. Ino shoved her papers aside and grinned at Sakura. "Well, you do look the part."

She gestured to the rosette's combat gear. Sakura was clad in her black armor, twin katana blades strapped on her back and a kunai pouch on her left thigh—that was just what Ino could s_ee_. The blonde was sure that the officer had a lot more weapons than she let on; probably tucked away underneath her gauze wraps. Ino also noticed that her mask was on the side of her head, she couldn't help but feel honoured over the fact that she was one of lucky ones to know who were allowed to see most ANBU members without their masks.

Not everyone knew who was part of ANBU and those who did were only a select few. It was to keep conspiracies away as well as to make sure the officers and, and their families, stay safe.

Her friend scrunched up her nose as she crossed her arms. "You're no help." Ino shrugged, turning back to her paperwork with a smile etched on her pretty face. A distraction, Sakura may be. But she was glad for the little bout of spontaneity in her day.

It's been weeks since she last had someone in her office who wasn't traumatized or brooding.

"Why are you dressed in your gear?" Sakura didn't usually go out to train in full on ANBU armor unless it unless she had special training or an actual mission. Sakura pulled a chair and sat next to Ino. "Routine patrol on the borders," she said as she played with her friend's papers and pens. "You know, making sure that no one causes trouble—we're still fixing up the village, after all."

Many survivors on the enemy's side still found it relevant to attack the recovering village every now and then. They've been a pain on not just the Fire Country's ass but also to every other country and their villages. "I swear, last time, Gaara saw to one group himself."

Sakura shook her head at the piece of information she'd just relayed to the blonde. It was funny how the die-hards, defeated as they were, would still try to cause trouble. It wasn't scary or anything but it was irritating.

"Gaara dealt with them?" Ino asked in surprise. Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "Can't blame him, he probably wanted to let out some steam. Did you hear what they threatened him with?"

"Temari." Ino recalled with slight distaste, she never really did get over the Sand ambassador's relationship with her teammate. "Well that's what she got for refusing an escort—an ambush was obviously expected." Was it bitterness that made Ino think that the ambush was fitting? Or was it purely an opinion based on facts?

Oh, jeez. Wasn't she supposed to be the psychoanalyst?

Temari was strong but with fifty men bombarding her like that, it would be a tough fight; she'd held her own but at some point, a rescue was direly needed. The rosette sat up from her slouched position and reached for a notebook.

Ino, realizing what she was about to do, slapped her hand away. "Oi, Haruno. Confidential material—and what the _hell,_ are you doing behind my desk?" Sakura was shooed away from the desk by a frazzled Ino. The last thing she wanted was her reading through Sasuke's file. "Hey, I just want to know a little about him." Her friend reasoned; it was an innocent gesture.

She was met by a sarcastic stare from the blonde. "Go and work for it. Kami-sama knows how hard _I _did to fill that notebook up." The blonde recalled the many sessions spent in awkward silence as she tried her hardest to get information out of the stoic Uchiha. The pink-haired ANBU officer waved her off casually, dropping the subject and entering a new one. "Whatever." Her face began to take on a more thoughtful look. "Isn't it funny though how I was doing the same thing I'm about to do now and ended up bringing a rouge ninja home?"

Green eyes caught a man in a bird mask silently drop down from the roof onto the Ino's open window pain. He gestured for her to leave before quickly disappearing.

It was time for her to go.

Sakura let out a musical laugh. "Hey, if I bring home another one just as hot, do you want dibs?" she joked before striding to the door. She grabbed the handle and turned to say a quick good-bye.

Ino returned the gesture by twiddling her fingers. "I don't think he'll like that." The blonde called out with a smirk playing on her lips.

Sakura didn't understand her friend's last statement but she was too much in a rush to ask her about it.

* * *

Sasuke veered to the right, dodging a kick aimed at his head. His muscles tensed as he caught his opponents arm and flipped him over.

"Oi, teme, easy on the kid." Naruto called from the far left. He was currently sparring with a girl with a kunai; though he was more defending and blocking attack than sparring.

Kakashi summoned them to the training grounds under the idea that they were going to spar—well they did end up sparring; they just weren't expecting the spar to be with children.

_"Teaching is learning." _The silver-haired man had said with such dignity though his students knew otherwise. Naruto and Sasuke had figured that the old man was probably too lazy to come up with a training exercise for the day.

The Uchiha glared at the blonde. He should leave his training methods alone—everyone had their own style; and this was his. "Never lose eye contact." Sasuke advised stoically, staring right into the child's eyes to drive his point in further.

The child was no older than ten and had sandy brown hair looked up at the Uchiha's obsidian orbs with unbelievable courage as he nodded in understanding "Hai." Sasuke was impressed; it wasn't everyday that a child could look up at the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan and _not _flinch. The kid could even take a glare from him. In a way, this was a sense of comfort for him—proof that not everyone was a afraid of him. A sliver of hope in fitting in again to the village he'd left so many years ago.

Just then, a series of shadows passed overhead, distracting the children and their temporary instructors. "ANBU officers!" the girl yelled, dropping her kunai and tacked her gaze on the graceful officers. Sasuke heard Naruto mutter a frustrated piece of instruction about not dropping her weapon no matter what.

"Even in the bathroom! Don't let go of a weapon! Have it at least within a grabbing distance."

Sasuke's students pulled at the bottom hem of his sensei's shirt. "Is he for real?" he whispered, looking at the blonde with a mixture of fear and amazement. Surely no one is that… _weird. _"Hn." The Uchiha retorted; he'd asked himself the same question so many times.

"Oi, teme!" Naruto grinned, recognizing a mask from the flurry of masked men and women. He jerked his head to point her out. Sasuke looked just in time to see one ANBU officer half-turn and wave discreetly at both Sasuke and Naruto.

Deep down, Sasuke had thought that what Sakura did was stupid and reckless. Shouldn't ANBU be stricter with themselves? Showing signs of a bond was detrimental to her esteem. Naruto, reading his thoughts, walked up to him and punched him on the shoulder. "She was being nice—quit being a judgemental prick."

"Punch me again and I'll shove a kunai up your ass." Sasuke retorted dangerously.

* * *

Outside Konoha, edging on the borders, Sakura flew past towering trees at a respectable speed, looking and feeling for anything with so much as a drop of chakra. Her green eyes darted to and fro as she leapt onto a higher, more stable branch.

Seeing that this perimeter was clear, the rosette changed routes and decided to further to the right. Only two of them were assigned there—Sakura figured it would give her time to think as well as quicken their routine.

She reached up to tap a small button on the radio apparatus clipped on her ear. "I'm heading right to join fox and dog." With the consent of the team leader, Sakura ventured right with a surge of speed.

As she sped through, the forest seemed to get thicker; trees were now taller and had fuller foliage—blocking out huge chunks of the afternoon sky—and shrouding the forest in shadows. Light danced on Sakura's mask when she passed a small gap through the thick foliage.

Distance between trees began to shorten and soon, Sakura had found herself making smaller leaps to get onto the next tree—it was a perfect place for an enemy group to conceal themselves; the trees covered them from above, while gigantic bushes and roots kept them hidden from searching eyes.

Sakura came to a halt on a fairly thick branch that gave her the best vantage point. Immediately, she felt for any sign of foreign chakra. Her green eyes, clear and vivid despite the mask, relaxed when she found no other chakra than that of her comrades that were scattered throughout the greenery.

"No sign of prospective threats, Captain." Sakura positioned herself in a crouch that allowed her to spring into action at the slightest hint of a threat—and to get more comfortable.

A few bleeps of static filled her eardrums before the team leader's deep voice came through loud and clear. _"Keep your position, we'll regroup from there and then head back. State your location." _

Sakura half-heartedly stated her position—her mind had already flown in another direction for it had just occurred to her that this was the same spot she had been in when she encountered the returning missing nin.

Was this why she was drawn to this spot; because she met him here? The rosette shook it out of her thoughts. This was a mission. She was only trying to do her job right. Besides, if the Uchiha took this route to remain undetected, and he had been until she stumbled upon him by coincidence, smart enemy shinobi were bound to do the same—to not check this area would be considered detrimental to the village's safety.

"You're getting to defensive." She said to herself with a frustrated sigh. It was stupid that she was arguing with herself—putting reason up against reason in her own head. Since when had she ever been this mentally confused over something she couldn't even pinpoint?

Didn't confusion warrant a source? How could one be confused if one didn't know what he or she was confused about?

Sakura knocked herself on the head with a fist. "I'm confused about being confused over some unknown thing that I'm confused about." What the hell.

A missing-nin, who, just to point out, she had nothing to do with, turns up and what does that do to her? It turns her into a bumbling idiot. Granting he was at fault too—in a way. After all, didn't he claim to know her, even going as far as to physically force his way into her mind by pulling her off a roof.

If he wanted to remain in her head, he chose the right tactic. People, ninja or not, tend to remember getting pulled off a roof.

She closed her eyes and pictured her old team; Sai, Naruto and Kakashi. But something weird had happened, Sai's face wasn't wearing black he was in—a burst of pain slashed through her entire head. Sakura buckled down, clutching her head as she let out a pained yell.

Was she being attacked? She thought, trying to think through the searing pain. Sakura forced her watery eyes open to scan her surroundings just in case it was indeed a stealth attack. However, the young woman felt and saw nothing.

It was another one of her odd attacks and this particular pushed the pain envelope even further. She felt her vision slip as she plunged into the darkness—pain overriding her senses.

* * *

The doors swung open harshly, nearly ripping off of their hinges as it opened to reveal a livid Tsunade. "Talk to me." She pulled aside a medic, yanking the chart she was holding and giving it a once-over. Her amber eyes softened, though not by much, once she realized her protégé wasn't attacked or mortally injured.

However, from what she'd read on her chart and from the reports of Sakura's teammates, what befell Sakura in the woods worried her to no end.

"So she just blacked out—just like that?" With a stethoscope, Tsunade checked the rosette's heartbeat and breathing.

Everything seemed normal.

But the Hokage knew this was something not of physical matters and more of a mental problem. "She screamed and then blacked out." A masked man, still clad in ANBU gear, mentioned from where he stood. Tsunade turned to the young man who was leaning against the white wall over by the double doors she'd previously burst in from. "We thought about treating her when we realized that the best medic in ANBU, and currently the only medic on the mission, was the one in need of treatment."

"Wha—

"Let me in—damn it! I need to see her!" Annoyance began to slowly engulf the frazzled woman. She did not need the blonde idiot to come barging in and making a big deal of things. This was a hospital; medics and doctors needed to be calm despite any alarming situation—a frantic observer was not going to help.

"Block Uzumaki and whoever is with him." Because Tsunade was absolutely sure that Uchiha Sasuke would also try to enter the room. "Accept no reason—No one enters without my—

One of the doors fell through with a crash, shocking the people of the room into stillness. Standing there with a look of nervousness in his eyes was a huffing Naruto. "That—that was an accident, I swear!" He yelled, trying to appease the reddening woman. He'd punched the door in frustration when a nurse had told him that he wasn't allowed to enter. Naruto had not known that Tsunade's entrance earlier had weakened the hinges that held the door steady. He'd just about rambled on about everything under the sun until the busty woman held up a hand to halt his running mouth.

"Understood, Uzumaki now leave—

Another interruption, "What happened to Sakura?" a deep and all too familiar voice echoed from Naruto's right. Sasuke stepped out from the corner to reveal himself as well as get a clearer view of his former teammate.

His dark eyes widened slightly at the sight of Sakura on a hospital bed. His stomach lurched as he took in the sight of her stillness—he'd seen his fair share of people on the dreaded metal bed but seeing Sakura lying there raised an unnerving emotion inside of him.

He didn't like seeing her like this—never did. Whether people believed him or not, he had always made it a point to keep her away from as much trouble as possible back when they were genin; the forbidden forest, their encounter with Haku—ambushes; he'd always be there to help her out.

It was funny how it had come from that to her actually trying to kill him. Back then definitely wouldn't succeed. But when Madara attacked Konoha, the Uchiha had seen that she had finally caught up. He constantly had to remind himself that the weak little girl was no longer there, in her stead was an unbelievably strong young woman who could now hold her own against him; he liked that.

But he didn't like her forgetting him—that he utterly detested. Because in her memories, the altered ones, Someone else was there—his mind immediately pictured the pale skinned young man who'd resembled him—In her memories it was Sai that was defending her, the one who was one factor to her desire to become stronger.

The Uchiha had been too distracted by his own thoughts to hear a slight commotion; he only looked up when Naruto punched him lightly and gestured to Sakura—she was awake; alive and kicking.

* * *

"Shishou! I'm fine, really!" She muttered hurriedly, trying to jump out of the bed. Tsunade put a hand on her shoulder and pushed the protesting ANBU officer back down onto the off white bed. "Rest, I'll have them leave you." They'd sort this out later, the Hokage did not want to stress her apprentice.

When Sakura heard Tsunade begin to shove the two boys out, she sat up and blurted out an abrupt "No.", shocking those around her. She retracted slightly and laughed awkwardly. "I mean, they can stay. I'm fine." Besides she needed something to keep her distracted from her own thoughts seeing as it was got her into this predicament in the first place. Sakura looked up to catch either one of the two boy's eye.

She caught Sasuke's.

Typically, she would've looked away as quick as a lightning bolt—they'd only gotten to know each other a little bit so prolonged eye-contact was still considered weird. But as she gazed at the unflinching eyes of Uchiha Sasuke, the more she found herself struggling to look away. She felt comfortable; there was this air of familiarity in his presence.

They must've hit off well if she was feeling like this. One of those rare occurrences when one meets a stranger and ends up clicking with automatically. And he probably felt the same since he hadn't broken the stare as well.

She'd been so fixated on Sasuke that she missed the slightly distressed looks her mentor through at her. "You want them to stay?" the blonde woman asked her slowly. Oh, boy, was she going to need a crate of sake tonight. A trip to a small gambling den was in the cards for her too.

"Yes."

Sakura heard her mentor sigh. She tore her gaze away from Sasuke to regard Tsunade. "Shishou I'd rather be in here with company than be trapped in my own head."

Amber eyes looked thoughtful for a moment. She had made a valid point. Keeping Sakura from overthinking, which she knew was behind the blackout, would be beneficial. But she was asking for the object of her distress to stay in the room with her. Would Sasuke being there aggravate her even more?

Her request was both logical and foolish. Foolish only because Sakura wasn't aware that Uchiha Sasuke was more than just a new person to get along with and that her sudden distress rested a lot on his return.

"If I say no…" Tsunade tried to argue.

"Then I'm probably sneaking out of here." Sakura was used to being in the hospital but not as a patient.

Naruto marched right inside the room, hastening his steps to reach Sakura's bed quicker. "Sakura-chan." His tone was full of worry when he spoke. Sakura being in a hospital bed wasn't something Naruto wanted to grow accustomed to. "What exactly happened?"

Sasuke, unlike his friend, restrained himself and eyed Tsunade. The amber-eyed woman stalked quietly to the door and left; although not before throwing him a warning look that just screamed 'No funny business' The stoic Uchiha scoffed at her paranoia. Like he'd result to taking advantage of someone in the hospital—he wasn't _that _desperate to have her remember him.

Naruto was blabbering away with the rosette when Sasuke reached the pair. He stood by her bedside table and leaned back against the wall; listening to their trivial banter about trees. He'd begun closing his eyes when an alarmed cry from his blonde friend echoed throughout the room.

Said young man leapt up from the side of the bed, where he'd sat himself down, and looked up at the clock that hung just above the doorframe. Its hands displayed the time of day, and he was not pleased with what he saw. "Ahhh!" With a sudden sense of urgency, Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Teme! Did you tell your kid to go home?" His question earned a questioning look from the bedridden female. Sakura followed their conversation with renewed interest.

Sasuke opened his inky pools to stare at the blonde with apathy. "Yes." He answered with no trace of emotion. Of course he told that sandy-haired kid to go home—it was seven in the evening and he had no intentions of continuing training after such a commotion in the hospital.

His reply aggravated the blonde even more. "I left mine at Ichiraku! Damn it! I have to go get her!" he ran towards the door. "Ja, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura watched Naruto speed out the door like a kid on high amounts of sugar. She turned to Sasuke, a question etched obviously on her pretty face. "Since when did you both get kids?" Great ninjas, they were. But they were much to young and immature to be fathers. Sakura didn't even think they could look after a cat.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at her. He wanted so badly to make a snide remark but the Uchiha held it in; not really knowing why he made the effort to be polite in the first place. When was he ever concerned about her feelings? "Training—Kakashi had us train them." His tone was monotonous as he stated his answer; his eyes never left the door.

He heard Sakura sigh while she shifted her weight. "Hey, you wanna help me get out of here?" she asked lightly, a grin starting to spread across her face. Sasuke felt his eyebrows go up; a request for her to explain.

She replied with a laugh. "I feel fine—really. So, help me get out of here." She jerked her head to the window next to her bed. They were on the third floor, it was easy enough to escape. The only problem was after they'd left. Surely Tsunade wouldn't be too pleased that her protégé had left the premises without her consent with the help of the missing-nin whose reinstatement rested on her shoulders.

Sasuke shook his head. "No." Besides, if something went wrong again, he'd rather they still be in the hospital. Of course his voice of reason wasn't taken to a positive light by the young woman. She pouted and fell back on her pillow that was propped up.

"Fine but you're obligated to at least strike a conversation." It was a plea disguised as an order, Sakura didn't know what she'd do with her mind if she didn't distract it. Even if the person who was generally responsible for her confusion was the only one in the room—she'd take it.

"I'm not obliged to do anything for you." he grumbled in annoyance. Sakura looked a little affronted at his harshness but wiped away the look before he could say anything to supplement his first statement. Instead, she matched his coldness with an icy demeanour of her own.

"Then _why _haven't you left yet?" Sasuke stood quiet for a few moments before snapping his eyes shut—damn this girl was annoying. Sakura looked away and found interest in the white walls.

"How are you feeling?" The Uchiha asked awkwardly; attempting to spur a light conversation after their mini debacle.

Sakura ignored his question and settled into a more comfortable position before stating a question of her own. "What's your favourite color?" It was a random question—so random that it startled the Uchiha out of his icy countenance.

Her question was, admittedly, hard to answer. Was it red? The color of all the blood he'd shed, the color of his kekei genkai that he held so dear?—the color of his own blood that was now considered an asset and a terrible risk to Konoha.

Or was it black. He'd been wrapped up in darkness for so long that it was it was the only thing solid; the only familiar thing going for him in this sudden wave of change. It was a simple question but Sasuke found it one of the hardest to answer.

After all, didn't your favourite color represent something about you—or a thing important to you? He ran a hand through his raven locks and decided to turn the question back to her. He met her expectant gaze, shrugging to indicate his indifference. "What's yours?"

Sakura laughed and fixed him with a playful stare. "Oh, so you get to shrug it off but I have to answer?" Sasuke smirked. "You don't have to." Wasn't she itching for conversation? She should be pleased he'd asked.

"Blue." The young woman played with the sheets. "Yeah, I like blue."

* * *

When Sasuke left the room, Sakura's gaze drifted to her gear that was laid on one of the plush chairs that stood by a small circular coffee table. Her gear was covered by a white bed sheet that was hastily thrown on—her guess was that one of her team mates had concealed her stuff in case someone unauthorized entered the room and discovered that she was a black ops officer.

The rosette slung her legs out of the bed and padded over to the chair. She pulled off the blanket and bent over to take something from one of the many pockets of her pants. Her hand slid into a medium-sized pocket and pulled out a small notebook.

Sakura threw a cautious glance over her shoulder, her hair flew as she whipped her head to the door. Nurses had made a makeshift 'door' by hanging a floor-length curtain above the frame to provide the young woman with some privacy. Her eyes narrowed at the thick fabric, making sure that she wasn't going to be disturbed, before pulling the object completely.

She bit her lip nervously as her eyes found the label that was written in familiar handwriting : **Haruno Sakura. **The young woman played with the notebook; flipping it to its back and then to its front multiple times—did she want to do this?

After the war, as far as she could remember, Sakura was assigned sessions with Ino for a few weeks before she could start her training as an ANBU officer. It was a precaution—they wanted to make that all their officers were in a balanced mental standing.

But Sakura had this gut feeling that by reading through her extensive information gathered by Ino, she'd be able to pinpoint where her sudden bouts of pain was coming from. The blonde had mentioned that her case was special. Sakura thought she meant that the sessions were special since not only was she recovering from trauma but also trying to hit the mental standards of ANBU. But as her days of confusion and headaches went on, the rosette was beginning to wonder about what else had happened to her in the war.

* * *

**LOVE IT?**

**HATE IT?**

**REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW.**

**On a side note, would someone be a saint and update me about the latest Naruto chapter? With my schedule, it's either I choose to update a fic or read manga—and it's pretty obvious what I chose…**

(I know this chapter is short)


End file.
